APRL Seal Campaign

UPDATE: The Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division 1, has upheld a lower court decision to force the City of San Diego to dredge Casa Beach and remove the seals, as reported in the L.A. Times and San Diego Union Tribune.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please write to your state assemblymember and senator and ask them to sponsor legislation to change the terms of the 1931 state tidelands grant. When the State of California deeded Casa Beach to the City of San Diego in 1931, it listed a number of permissible uses for the beach, one of them being swimming. The court has ruled that seals interfere with swimming, and therefore the City must remove most of the sand the seals rest on. The State Legislature could at any time change the terms of the trust to explicitly not require the City to do this and to protect the seals. To find out who your legislators are, click here.

In May 2007, APRL sponsored a Zogby opinion poll to see where San Diegans stand on protecting the seals at Children's Pool Beach. The results: over 80% of San Diegans and 91% of La Jollans want increased protection for the seals.

After asking several questions about whether people "agree" with protecting the seals, the final question asked if people "disagree" with dredging. This would eliminate any positive response bias (people who tend to "agree" to everything, or are used to answering each question "agree"). A strong three fourths majority still "disagreed" with dredging.

View the complete poll results here. The breakdown by council district and other demographics is here. The dredging question is here, with district breakdowns and demographics here.

This was a scientific poll with an error rate of +/- 4% and lays to rest the notion that this is an evenly divided issue. In fact, San Diegans, and especially those living in La Jolla where the seals are, overwhelmingly support the seals and believe that swimming at Children's Pool Beach should not be allowed.

La Jolla Friends of the Seals also contributed to the cost of the poll.

Click here to view news coverage of the poll, which included local CBS, ABC, KUSI and FOX. Click here to view the San Diego Union Tribune article.

To the right: people watch the seals from a respectful distance when the rope barrier is in place. When the City removes the rope, swarms of tourists unintentionally drive the seals off the beach, not realizing it is a place the seals need to rest. Currently the City only maintains the rope during pupping season, Dec. 15 through May 15.

According to the Zogby poll, over 80% of San Diegans and 91% of La Jollans want the rope up year round. 81% of San Diegans and 85% of La Jollans also want this beach to be for sealwatching only, not swimming, which drives the seals away.

Come watch the seals at Children's Pool Beach, 850 Coast Blvd., at the end of Jenner. On weekends we have an educational booth, and donors receive a variety of gifts such as t-shirts, hats and mugs with pro-seal messages. All proceeds go to support the seal protection campaign and pay for nightime security to watch over the seals.


APRL | 302 Washington St. #404, San Diego, CA 92103 | 619-236-8991