Calling it “legislation for knuckleheads,” District 6 City Councilwoman Donna Frye and two others voted 3-0 on Feb. 21 to make harassing of harbor seals a misdemeanor at Children’s Pool beach at La Jolla.
The full City Council will act on the proposed measure within 60 days. Frye chairs the Natural Resources and Culture Committee, which heard the proposal from the City Attorney’s Office.
It already is against federal law to harass or bother seals via the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972, but the City Attorney’s Office felt that it ought to be against local law as well. The federal law is administered and enforced by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.
Under the proposed law, lifeguards and police officers would have the authority to arrest or cite offenders. Most people would not be arrested unless they are committing another crime or are intoxicated.
Offenders are more likely to be given a citation or ticket ordering them to appear in court. Violators would be subject to six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
Under the new proposed law, the definition of seal harassment includes people who disrupt their behavior patterns, such as nursing, breeding, sheltering or feeding. The MMPA law defines harassment broadly.
District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer said the federal definition uses the words “potential harassment” and “take,” which he said are “unclear to me.” District 8 Councilman Ben Hueso said some definitions of “harassment” were troubling for him, but voted with Frye and Faulconer to send it to the full City Council.
During the discussion regarding the definitions of seal harassment, Frye called it “legislation for knuckleheads.”
“A new provision in the San Diego Municipal Code makes seal harassment unlawful and defines harassment [in a way] that would better inform the public on how to modify their behavior,” stated a brief from the City Attorney’s Office.
The measure would provide a clearer role in local enforcement. The ordinance also describes harbor seals scientifically with its genus and species type. In December, the City Council passed an emergency ordinance that approved earlier erection of a rope barrier that separates people from the seals during their pupping season.