Referring to the California sea lion infestation at La Jolla Cove as an “occupation,” a coalition of civic leaders under La Jolla Town Council’s guidance has developed a plan for dealing with the worsening situation many are calling a “crisis.”
A plea to Mayor Kevin Faulconer to “invoke his legal right to move and exclude sea lions from specific areas where they are causing a public health and safety problem,” tops the list of proposed action items La Jollans would like to see, which includes:
• The mayor and City Council designating La Jolla Town Council (LJTC) as the contracting entity to develop a short-term action plan to move and exclude the sea lions from La Jolla beaches.
• The mayor and City Council giving authority for LJTC to execute a contract to implement a sea lion action plan.
• LJTC proposing/executing a city-funded contract to plan the seal lion project in detail and implement it, as well as develop cost estimates for the plan.
The La Jolla Community Task Force on sea lions includes: Ann Kerr Bache, chair LJTC; Dan Simonelli, president of San Diego Swim Club; Nick LeBeouf, pesident La Jolla Shores Association; attorney Steve Haskins, chair of LJTC Coastal Committee; Doug Burleigh, vp of San Diego Swim Club; David Valentine, marine mammal expert; CA Marengo, president of LJVMA; Debbie Beacham, liaison for LJ Parks and Beaches; Joel Tracy, president of SD Council of Divers; Angie Preisdorfer, president of La Jolla Shores Business Association; Phyllis Minnick, chair of Coastwalk Project; Elisabeth King, La Jolla Gallery; and Mary Coakley, La Jolla Shores Association.
“What the La Jolla community wants (speaking through the task force) is prompt and effective action to move and exclude sea lions from areas where their presence creates severe public health and safety problems,” said LJTC in a letter to Faulconer.
“This is a long-term problem, and it will require a long-term effort,” continue’s LJTC’s letter to the mayor, which adds, “The Task Force recommendations understand that achieving this objective (harmlessly displacing sea lions) will require resources (funding, expertise and manpower). The La Jolla community very much wants this problem to be solved. It wants to be involved, and it can provide substantial resources to support and enhance the city effort.”
To reduce the impact on city resources, the Task Force recommends dealing with sea lions in two phases. The first is developing and executing a community-based action plan, as well as creating and managing a team of professionals to implement non-harmful sea lion-deterrence methods. The second phase of the LJTC-sponsored plan calls for doing what is required to implement the plan to deter sea lions from La Jolla beaches.
“The La Jolla community is very rich in volunteer resources, so the LJTC could organize and manage this part of the effort,” LJTC’s letter to the mayor concludes. “Finally, given a city commitment to solve this problem in a sustained way, LJTC is confident that it can raise substantial amounts of donated money to offset or reduce the needed input of taxpayer funding.”
Also in its mayoral letter, LJTC enumerated examples illustrating the human impact of the sea lions problem on La Jolla including:
• Numerous instances in which a sea lions threatened humans that came too close.
• Pinnipeds dying in Cove waters adding to increasing pollution from sea lion’s waste.
• The 100th annual Rough Water Swim in September had to be canceled this year due to Cove contamination by sea lion’s waste.
•An off-duty lifeguard contracted a staph infection requiring days of hospitalization due to exposure to contaminated waters.