The city of San Diego will lead an information-only presentation about people and sea lions at La Jolla Cove during the California Coastal Commission\u2019s meeting Wednesday, Dec. 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Specifics of the presentation are scarce, but it is listed as an \u201cupdate on the status of management strategies at La Jolla Cove to avoid harassment of sea lions.\u201d It will be led by the San Diego Parks & Recreation Department and Coastal Commission staff. <\/p>\n
There will be an opportunity for public comment, but no vote will be taken.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The meeting is planned to begin at 9 a.m. at the Pier South Resort in Imperial Beach. It isn\u2019t yet known when during the meeting the presentation will be given. The meeting will be livestreamed at coastal.ca.gov<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n San Diego representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives of the La Jolla Parks & Beaches board and La Jolla Cove Access Working Group said they were unaware of the planned presentation and did not know whether they would attend and\/or speak.\u00a0<\/p>\n La Jolla Cove and the sea lions that go on land to rest there have been the subject of a continued effort by the city and Coastal Commission to maintain safe access to The Cove for humans while preventing unsafe interactions with the pinnipeds.\u00a0<\/p>\n In June 2021, the Seal Society and Sierra Club San Diego called on Mayor Todd Gloria to declare an emergency and temporarily close Point La Jolla \u2014 adjacent to La Jolla Cove \u2014 to the public during sea lion pupping season while keeping the viewing area from an adjacent wall open.<\/p>\n Rather than pursue a closure<\/a>, the city in early July that year posted signs<\/a> at the entrance to Point La Jolla and the adjacent Boomer Beach, some of them reading \u201cStay back: Sea lion birthing area.\u201d Other signs cautioned that sea lions can bite and that harassing them is against the law.<\/p>\n Stenciling on trash cans, the sidewalk and the short wall that lines Point La Jolla reads \u201cDo not approach mothers or pups\u201d and \u201cDo not approach sea lions.\u201d<\/p>\n In August 2021, City Councilman Joe LaCava, whose District 1 includes La Jolla, said the city had decided to take \u201cmore assertive steps,\u201d and Point La Jolla was closed for five weeks<\/a> on an emergency basis from Aug. 11 through Sept. 15.<\/p>\n In April 2022, the Coastal Commission voted unanimously to approve an annual pupping season closure<\/a> of Point La Jolla and most of Boomer Beach from May 1 to Oct. 31. <\/p>\n In September 2023, the commission voted to approve extending the closure<\/a> of the point and the bluffs at Boomer Beach to year-round.<\/p>\n La Jolla\u2019s longtime conflict between beach access rights for people and protections for marine animals against human misconduct has led not only to the public closure of Point La Jolla but also the five-month annual closure of the Children\u2019s Pool, which is home to harbor seals.<\/p>\n Public access to La Jolla Cove is unrestricted, but fearing it might be next to close, the Cove Access Working Group formed<\/a> in September 2024 under the auspices of La Jolla Parks & Beaches to put together a plan to address interactions between humans and sea lions there. <\/p>\n