In an attempt to change the face of activism at the La Jolla Children\u2019s Pool, students began a series of protests at the beginning of the summer, including a gathering at the courthouse steps and then at the governor\u2019s office. Now the students said they will continue their battle for a La Jolla seal colony, taking their fight to the California Department of Fish and Game in an attempt to alter the Children\u2019s Pool\u2019s designation. “We recently became tax-paying citizens. We\u2019re trying to get as many people as possible, but right now we\u2019ve got a core group of ten people,” said 19-year-old Summer Dunsmore. “We have been focusing on some of the issues around the seals. That\u2019s how it began, a reaction to that sort of news… We were dealing with citizens\u2019 rights \u2014 what we want the city to support and not support, and animal rights.” In an effort to save the resident Children\u2019s Pool harbor seal colony, Dunsmore\u2019s student group began organizing protests July 20 supporting Senate Bill 428 (SB-428), which inserts the words “marine mammal viewing area” into California\u2019s tidelands grant in order to add the seal colony to a list of legally permitted uses for the area. “We were protesting the hearing happening that day,” Dunsmore said. “I feel like the issue was being undermined.” While courtroom drama played out between attorneys that Monday, the students walked the courthouse steps, holding signs in support of the seal colony, Dunsmore said. The group walked to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger\u2019s San Diego office later that day, she said. “We asked the governor [to sign SB-428],” Dunsmore said. “We talked to one of the aides there and asked him to send a message to Sacramento.” Dunsmore said the student protests and appeals to Schwarzenegger worked. “That was our motive \u2014 we wanted him to see the expedience, and then on Thursday [the judge] repealed the order,” Dunsmore said. On the heels of what she described as a successful protest, Dunsmore said her group started fighting on another front for the Children\u2019s Pool seal colony. The student activists began lobbying the Department of Fish and Game and attending meetings in an attempt to designate the Children\u2019s Pool a state reserve under the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA). “We\u2019re focusing on lobbying the State Department of Fish and Game,” Dunsmore said. “The MLPA designates state reserves in California; it would include the Children\u2019s Pool as a state reserve.” Although the governor recently signed SB-428, adding marine mammal viewing to the list of uses, the bill ultimately gives the San Diego City Council discretion regarding the seals. But fishing is included among a list of uses that would be outlawed under the MLPA. “Swimming would be allowed but no fishing,” Dunsmore said. “They wouldn\u2019t have to deal with boat propellers or fish hooks and it would help with the sustainability in the area.” For more information about the Children\u2019s Pool, visit www.sen ate.ca.gov\/kehoe, www.childrenspool.org, www.friendsoftheseals.com or www.aprl.org\/seals.html.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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