Surfers Tackle Seals at Children’s Pool
The Tiring Debate Over the Seals at Children’s Pool Reveals Both the Complexity of the Issue and the Varying Brands of Environmentalism Among Surfers
| According to a statute enacted in 1931, which came alongside a fund
setup by Ellen Browning Scripps, Children's Pool is legally defined for
public use, not for a seal harbor. |
SAN DIEGO, CA – On May 27, 2009, a San Diego Superior Court Judge, Yuri Hofmann, ruled that the seals must be removed from Children's Pool in La Jolla. A hearing will be held June 15 to decide on how to remove them. According to a statute enacted in 1931, which came alongside a fund setup by Ellen Browning Scripps, Children's Pool is legally defined for public use, not for a seal harbor. On that basis, judge Hofmann moved to remove the seals from Children's Pool and return the beach to the public, which lost the ability to frequent the place after seals started taking over the beach in the early 1990's, leading the City to close the beach due to high bacteria levels from seal’s waste.
 As if there wasn’t already enough debate over whether to keep the seals, there is now a big controversy over how to remove the seals, with the city proposing to spend $689,000 and others saying that it can be done for free. If the city has its way, a recording of dogs barking will be used from 6am until sunset to scare away the seals, since these are averse to canines. But if that doesn't work, a second approach is to spray the seals with high-pressure hydraulics until the mammals relocate. On the more inexpensive projects, like the one initially proposed by Sherry Lightner, the councilmember for that district, the beach is first converted to a dog beach until the seals move and then turned into a public use beach but with no dogs. Among the many objections, opponents argue that the first is too expensive and the second "inhumane" in the treatment of animals, since it could possibly endanger both the seals and the dogs.
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"It’s great for the seals that they are gaining
back their population, but there is a buoy somewhere they can sit on.”
-- Chris Russell
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This debate, however, could be rendered useless if a bill working through the state legislature is approved. Authored by state Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, the bill would give legal grounds for the City to decide the fate of the seals, possibly turning things around and allowing the seals to stay.
But some find that prospect troubling, arguing that the intent of Ellen Browning Scripps should be respected. Scripps funded the construction of a harboring wall and then gave the beach to the City for public use. “The City was given that as a gift with a specific intent and that intent is now being broken by one extreme side,” said a longtime La Jolla resident, who remembers playing in Children’s Pool as a kid. Chris Russell, from San Diego, agrees, saying, “Children’s Pool was built for people and kids, so I think the ruling is spot on,” adding, “it’s great for the seals that they are gaining back their population, but there is a buoy somewhere they can sit on.”
Others disagree with Russell, arguing that, since the beach and the ocean are the seals’ natural environment, the seals should stay. “I think they should stay. It’s their home, not ours,” said Jake Johnson from La Jolla. And here another La Jolla resident agrees, adding, “It’s the only place that they have to stay in San Diego. There is a million other beaches that people can chill out, so I don’t think that little area of sand is affecting people’s relaxing time.”
The existence of this debate within the surf community reveals both the complexity of the issue and the varying brands of environmentalism among surfers. The question of whether to keep the seals hinges on a variety of factors, such as respecting Scripps intent and respecting the seals’ natural environment. The difference of answer is likely to come from the different weight assigned to these different factors, with surfers falling on different sides of the controversy. But of all these different opinions, which one would Scripps offer? The answer, at least from the layman’s vantage point, is far from obvious. Changes in seal population at the beach in the 1990’s, the boost of accessibility to other beaches, and the non-endangered status of seals are only some of the factors shifting the opinion base.
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