The Coastal Commission heard from both sides of an ongoing tension between humans and pinnipeds in La Jolla, with most saying the city needs to do more.
The city of San Diego has begun to implement more measures aimed at promoting harmony between humans and pinnipeds at La Jolla Cove Beach, including stronger Park Ranger presence and messaging; new consolidated signage; and further education and outreach to tour groups.
This next wave of management, presented at the California Coastal Commission’s Dec 10 meeting , addresses ongoing tension at The Cove, where animal activists advocate for further protection for the sea lions after continued sea lion harassment by some people while beach access proponents push for a beach completely open to humans.
“In response to public comment at recent commission meetings, staff has met with the city of San Diego on several occasions to discuss options for managing the ongoing threats to human and sea lion safety at the La Jolla Cove,” said Lindsey Cain, coastal program analyst for the Coastal Commission.
The Cove beach is currently open to the public with no restrictions; the adjacent Point La Jolla closed permanently to humans in 2023 to allow the sea lions unfettered access to the rocks to haul out, or rest.
Further south, The Children’s Pool Beach is closed from Dec 15 to May 15 annually to allow the harbor seals safety from humans during the seals’ pupping season.
There is no plan to close The Cove to people, San Diego Parks & Recreation Department Director Andy Field said. “We do intend to keep the cove open to public access.”
At The Cove, the city installed gates at the two beach access staircases in 2017 to prevent sea lions from going up onto the public viewing deck and into Scripps Park.
After the closure of Point La Jolla, the city adjusted the duties of the Park Ranger stationed there to allow that person to also patrol The Cove to monitor human interactions with sea lions.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is responsible for enforcement of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which prohibits the harassment of marine mammals, Cain said.
“However, NOAA has extremely limited enforcement capacity and [is] not able to engage on this issue due to the need to prioritize threatened or endangered species,” she said, adding sea lions are not listed as threatened or endangered.
With 2.3 million visitors to La Jolla Cove in 2024, according to Field, Park Rangers are busy focusing on public safety, marine wildlife education, protection and monitoring visitor information and education, as well as collecting data.
This monitoring comes after near-daily observances of people getting too close to sea lions for selfies or harassment, with aggravated responses from the pinnipeds that garner viral notoriety.
Rangers are on site from 9 am to 5 pm Nov 2 to March 5; 10 am to 6 pm March 6 to May 26; 11 am to 7 pm May 27 to Sept 6; and 10 am to 6 pm Sept 7 to Nov 1, Field said.
For the last several months, Park Rangers have adopted a “standard communication protocol and consistent messaging,” he said, with hourly messages delivered via bullhorn: “‘Attention beach visitors, please respect the marine wildlife in this area. The National Marine Fisheries Service recommends maintaining at least 50 yards of distance from seals and sea lions. To avoid injury to you or to the animals, please move away from the sea lion or harbor seal.’”
The message is adapted for specific violations, calling out someone by clothing (such as “the person wearing a red shirt and blue pants with black cap must please respect the marine wildlife in this area”), with further offenses called out via the same bullhorn for documentation and forwarding to federal authorities.
Rangers have reported these warnings have resulted in more compliance.
New signage has also been developed, Field said, intended to consolidate the current, numerous signs that “create confusion” and don’t align with messaging.
Proposed new signage/City of San Diego
The new signage, not yet finalized, clarifies the most important information, which is maintaining distance from the sea lions, Field said.
The signs would be placed at the staircases and made into a handout “that we give to the tour bus operators,” he said, “so that this area can be operated safely, and that patrons of those tour buses are familiar with the rules and regulations associated with this precious resource.”
In the future, the city will mount a camera at The Cove for continued monitoring and create a better viewing deck; these measures are “a little bit further out as they require more resources,” Field said.
“Safety of people and marine wildlife remains our focus at The Cove,” he said.
Much of Field’s presented ideas align with the proposal from the La Jolla Cove Access Group, which first convened in February to bring together many stakeholders from beach access proponents to animal advocates to collaborate on a solution that maintains recreational access for people while protecting the safety of the sea lions.
Current signage/City of San Diego
After several meetings, the group proposed a five-component solution: improved signage; providing tour bus operators scripts in various languages reminding passengers of safe viewing guidelines; designating a dedicated area for sea lion viewing; deploying a Park Ranger to The Cove to educate and cite violators; and implementing a deterrent system to keep sea lions away from the beach entirely.
Cove Access Group leader Patrick Ahern, one of the dozens of public commenters Dec 10, said the city’s idea for signage is a start but needs improvement by way of simplification and asked commissioners to provide more guidance for stronger measures, perhaps including fines for offenders.
“Our goal is to prevent unsafe behaviors and reduce conflicts between visitors and wildlife,” Ahern said.
San Diego Sierra Club Seal Society representatives agreed the city’s proposed signage is still “too cluttered,” as stated by Seal Society docent Nathan Brennan.
Brennan also asked for Rangers to be placed on the beach, not on the walkway above, for better proximity; and for messaging to be more specific (such as “take 10 steps back”).
Further, “docents have become de facto Rangers, asking people to stand back when our main role is education,” a Seal Society video said.
There’s “good agreement here with the city plan,” San Diego Sierra Club Chair Ron Askeland said, but “there’s still more that can be done to make it safer for both the sea lions and the public.”
Askeland further called for “a tested and implemented plan ready before May of 2026, when the next pupping season starts.”
In extensive communication to the commission and at the meeting, La Jollan and beach access advocate Kurt Hoffman suggested that the increase in sea lion numbers due to protective acts has had a negative environmental effect on The Cove, leading to a decline in the size of local kelp beds.
Ella Coulson, a graduate student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, supported this: “While I usually opt for increased protections for marine species, this is a scenario in which I want to acknowledge the unintended consequences that may be arising from public access closures in The Cove,” she said.
Current closures have led to a sea lion population increase, “which may be influencing the broader marine ecosystem,” she added, citing the kelp forests shrinking and noting many fish species have declined.
“I fear the public access closures are undermining our true conservation goals of protecting these marine ecosystems,” she said.
“We need to move to deterrence. It is the only way to avoid city liability,” Hoffman said.
“Rangers on the beach, at least, is where we’re going to have to get to, at least during pupping season,” Coastal Commissioner Matt O’Malley, who lives locally and visits The Cove often, said after public comment closed.
Hourly announcements don’t reach most of the visitors to The Cove, O’Malley added. “I just want the city to be flexible as they move forward.”
Other commissioner comments requested the city attend to the conflicts between docents and visitors in any plan updates.
