La Jolla\u2019s harbor seal colony heads into its annual pupping season with an uncertain future. But for the first time, attorneys are battling for the marine mammals inside federal court. “This hearing is whether the federal court can order the city to put the rope up,” said Brian Pease, attorney for the Animal Protection and Rescue League\u2019s (APRL) SealWatch, regarding a Dec. 12 hearing in front of Judge William Hayes. “The state court cannot prevent the court from putting the rope up, but they didn\u2019t take any position whether we could bring the action to federal court.” Pease said the city was behind him during the federal hearing, but Deputy City Attorney George Schaefer said officials would stand by the previous state decision. “As the city\u2019s pleadings in the federal case note, the city is unable to put up a rope barrier at the Children\u2019s Pool because of an order by a state court judge that the city may not do so,” Schaefer said. “The City Attorney\u2019s Office has no further public comment at this time.” The harbor seals\u2019 pupping season began Dec. 15 and runs through May 30, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). City crews installed a precautionary rope the past few years to protect pregnant seals and nursing pups, but as each year passes the rope becomes more controversial. “The first pups aren\u2019t born until February. There may have already been a miscarriage, though. The seals on the beach are definitely in their last trimester of pregnancy,” Pease said. Last year, Pease fought for the seal colony in federal court but exhausted his appeals with the city of San Diego. La Jolla\u2019s seals are on the brink of being shooed away after a state judge ruled the city must recondition the surrounding area to its 1941 standards. “When I filed the APRL lawsuit then we ran into a jurisdictional issue,” Pease said, adding that he\u2019s back in federal court focusing on installing a rope to protect pregnant seals but also an order blocking the city from dispersing seals. Months ago, Pease won a previous protection order for the colony, which expires in March. Locals say the controversy stems from an incident. A swim club protesting the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which cited swimmers and divers interfering with seals, swam from La Jolla Cove to the Children\u2019s Pool in an effort to reclaim their waters. While the group swam in, the seals flushed the beach, and officials cited swimmers. The federal MMPA preempts enforcement of state law, Pease said. La Jolla\u2019s harbor seal colony is protected under the federal MMPA. Swimmer Valerie O\u2019Sullivan was represented by attorney Paul Kennerson. In 2004, O\u2019Sullivan sued the City of San Diego, alleging the seal colony prohibited swimming at the Children\u2019s Pool. Judge William C. Pate found for O\u2019Sullivan, ruling the city violated the 1931 Children\u2019s Pool trust by closing the beach to the public. Pate said the city must reduce water bacteria levels to the Children\u2019s Pool 1941 condition but did not mention the seals. In December of last year, the City of San Diego lost the last in a string of state appeals, which triggered the court\u2019s decision regarding the Children\u2019s Pool, court documents stated. Kennerson began suing the city of San Diego for neglecting its duty. Kennerson said the city needed to dredge sand at the Children\u2019s Pool and disperse the seals. While the city appealed Pate\u2019s ruling, NOAA sent letters asking city staff and the mayor to install a rope protecting the seal colony during pupping season. The San Diego City Council passed resolutions in 2006 and 2007 requesting the city install a “guideline rope during the harbor seal pupping season,” court documents said. This year, Pease said he asked federal Judge William Hayes to allow a guideline rope while the harbor seal colony continues its official pupping season. “It was me, the city and NOAA,” Pease said. “NOAA was the one that requested the rope initially.” La Jolla Community Planning Association trustees voted to deny allowing the rope\u2019s installation during their December meeting, but Pease said the group is merely an advisory body. “It\u2019s going back to the hearing officer December 17,” Pease said. And Hayes ruled on submission during the Dec. 12 hearing. Hayes said he would issue an electronic decision regarding installation of a guideline rope. “Ninety-nine point nine percent of people respect the rope. A few people will still go down to the water,” Pease said. “It\u2019s just a guideline. There are 80,000 people that visit that beach.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
La Jolla\u2019s harbor seal colony heads into its annual pupping season with an uncertain future. But for the first time, attorneys are battling for the marine mammals inside federal court. “This hearing is whether the federal court can order the city to put the rope up,” said Brian Pease, attorney for the Animal Protection and […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Attorney takes seal issue to federal court","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551,11593,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news","category-no-images","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}