Ever wonder what tickles your toes when wading out into the Pacific Ocean? Curious as to where all those divers disappear? Ever heard of the ecologically essential California sheephead?
All these questions and more will be answered on a grandiose La Jolla Shores Map that will cover the dirt lot between the new comfort station and playground.
“The map,” as it’s been dubbed, will depict the underwater La Jolla and Scripps canyons, as well as the boundaries for the ecological reserve that prohibits any fishing or taking. Forty-five species of fish will be shown, plus important landmarks such as the dive sites, tide pools, the various caves, Seal Rock and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
The Kumeyaay people’s long history in the area will also receive a place on the map, likely through bronze pictures depicting indigenous life or with a national flag emblazoned with a logo of each of the tribal bands.
A memorial will also commemorate the 450-pound black sea bass that was illegally speared and killed last year in the ecological reserve.
The map will be comprised of crushed Lithocrete, a locally patented mix of crushed glass, seashells and aggregates that will also depict the varying depths of water. Sea creatures will be drawn as close to life-size as possible in metal and embedded into the glass.
The map will educate children, adults and tourists about what exists beneath the waters and what a precious resource the entire area is, said District 3 Supervisor Pam Slater-Price, whose office donated the largest gift of $50,000 to the project.
“It’s one thing to hear about it and it’s another thing to see a demonstration that they can easily imagine after they’ve seen it,” Slater-Price said.
Ed Parnell, a research scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, was happy as a clam to speak about the ecological importance of the California sheephead fish that the map will spotlight.
“The California sheephead is important because it is a predator of sea urchins that actually eat kelp,” Parnell said. “So if you overfish California sheepheads, you could feasibly release urchins to grow and diminish the kelp forest.”
Preserving the natural food chain is vital for the health of the ecosystem as well as for its resilience to environmental disturbances and its ability to recover, Parnell said. It’s important that the public understands the significance of the reserve.
Kumeyaay consultant Louie Guassac applauds the map’s effort to recognize the Kumeyaay’s strong relationship to the coast, which he feels has not always been acknowledged.
“Our relationship to the ocean became lessened only because we were reserved to the reservation areas,” Guassac said, adding that their historical link to the area is still strong, as seen through the traditional songs that speak about the tribe’s relationship to the salty waters.
The map isn’t the only project in the pipeline, however. The committee working on the site is also hoping to install a monitor on the new comfort station that will connect to an underwater camera to capture exactly what’s going on down below.
Beach-goers shouldn’t rush to the site quite yet, though. While the concept for the map is almost complete, the project still needs $75,000. Approximately $100,000 has been raised towaard the total cost, which includes a maintenance fund. Groundbreaking is planned for late September with a completion date of November 2006.
However, the entirely volunteer submerged sites committee has been going strong for the past year and a half. The members pull from all sides of the community, including a Scripps researcher and graduate student, a Kumeyaay representative, District 1 Councilman Scott Peters’ office, a lifeguard, a local neighbor, a representative with the Birch Aquarium, co-workers from an investing group, a member of the National Surfrider Foundation and CoastKeepers, an interpretive writer and even one of the world’s acclaimed marine artists, Wyland.
Subcommittee member John Metzger, who owns OEX Dive Shop on Avenida de la Playa, believes that the project will be successful because of all the voices that have contributed to it.
“It’s going to be a great project because everyone’s had their say and put their ideas down,” Metzger said.
The vision for the map blossomed as it passed from one community member to the next. Local landscaper Matt Simpson, who worked on foliage for the new Kellogg Park comfort station, had always dreamed about bringing the ecological reserve and underwater canyons to life on the boardwalk as an educational tool for the public.

“He said that if he sat on the wall and looked into the park there was nothing to separate it from a park in Pittsburgh,” committee chair Mark Coakley quoted Simpson.

The big eureka followed when Coakley wandered into OEX Dive Shop and spotted Franko’s Map of La Jolla Shores and realized that the underwater canyons would fit perfectly into the dirt expanse next to the comfort station.
Coakley was instrumental in bringing the remodeled comfort station to the shores. He contacted acclaimed cartographer Franko Nielsen, who jumped on the idea and began to contact scientists at Scripps.
The ball hasn’t stopped rolling yet and Coakley is still seeking community input about the content of the map and, of course, as many donations as possible.
For more information about the map, call Coakley at (619) 840-0250, or visit
www.lajollashoresmap.com, or e-mail [email protected].