Originally published at: San Diego boldly moved to rid popular beach of a horrible and dangerous invasive species to protect native sea lions | Boing Boing
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SFGate article not loading for me.
(All I see is the reporter bio, clickbait, and none of the referenced content. Paywall?)
Update: I tried again (Tuesday) and site is working correctly, with no changes on my end.
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Maybe your ad blocker?
I thought that too, but have tried two additional browsers (Safari and Chrome) on MacOS and iOS that are largely stock with no ad blocking add-ons.
My main browser is FireFox running no-script, which I have judiciously edited and experimented with to balance ad content against function.
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For the next seven years, humans aren’t permitted on the beach.
I’ve been to the spot a few times – not going down onto the rocks as many people do when they ignore the signs, which they do constantly. It’s a madhouse of touron idiocy over there.
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Whenever I hear about the sea lions and La Jolla I’m reminded of this most excellent TAL episode that does a great job of illuminating the tensions between both sides of the sea lion/human debate- https://www.thisamericanlife.org/582/when-the-beasts-come-marching-in/act-one-13
Looks like this order is for Point La Jolla and Boomer Beach and not Children’s Pool which is a bit further down the coast.
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Predictably, a few vocal specimen of the invasive species aren’t pleased.
The entire first week of my high-desert employment was taken up by safety training, something which included awareness of local fauna and corresponding do’s and don’ts, which brings me to our Desert Tortoises. They are a threatened and therefore protected species. 90% have been lost over the past few decades due to factors including destructive human intervention. After being instructed to always drive carefully and to particularly watch out for tortoises crossing the roads, one instruction room blockhead asked me (in a whisper) why we should be looking out for the tortoises if there are so few now. I stopped myself from telling him directly to his face that their scarcity was due to uncaring imbeciles such as him. The training made me aware of the plight of the tortoises — and of fools, imbeciles and blockheads I’d be working with. Lovely.
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Finally.
Lord, though… To hear some people complain about efforts in the past to keep people off that one tiny stretch of beach, especially during pupping season.
Just fucking GO TO ANOTHER BEACH.
To help with some context, below from the La Jolla Light website shows the exact area that is closed and below that, a wide shot of the coast with a red dash that roughly covers what we’re talking about here -
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OMG! - Yes! — great episode on the invasive humanoids! I read the headline and immediately thought of This American Life!
signed,
local public radio sustaining member
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I’m not saying it’s a bad idea to close that cove to humans but I’ve been to that area and those are NOT equally well suited areas for swimming.
The cove on the right is a nice sandy beach protected from the waves and an ideal location for swimming and snorkeling, which is why people used it for that purpose for decades before the sea lions returned to the area. Boomer Beach on the left has big waves and is OK for bodysurfing if you’re careful but not a good spot for less experienced swimmers. Even the city’s web site says “It’s possible to catch some sun while laying out on the sand here, but swimming can be difficult for even those more experienced.”
You can even see the difference in the satellite picture, look at the churning white waves on the left side vs. the calm water and sandy beach on the right. That’s why the sea lions and the human visitors alike prefer the cove.
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Can’t. Stop. Myself. From. Fun. Derail. GIF. Post.
Now, since I got that base covered, thank you for explaining why some people may be miffed. I hope they get over it and enjoy contributing a tiny bit to wildlife protection. If not, I hope someone yells at them all the way to the beach and back again.
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I have always found it funny that the Extremely Expensive Condos there are eternally steeped in a very biological miasma from the sea lion poo and rotting kelp. A block away the air is fresh and there are good restaurants.
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I’ve been to those beaches a couple of times, and getting to see the sea lions relatively close (while still maintaining some distance) was an incredible experience. One of the greatest beaches in the state to explore.
But there have been numerous stories of people abusing that access beyond all reason. I think most folks will have seen this shutdown as a long time coming.
Bummed I won’t be able to head back down to that beach any time soon, but totally understand why it came to this.
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Yeah it’s a great little swimming cove and there isn’t really any comparable spot nearby. I get why locals who swam there for generations are sad to lose it, but the sea lions need it more.
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I am astonished (and delighted) that the ungodly rich and powerful people who live there have allowed their access to the beaches to be curtailed.
I used to live approximately at the F in the LA JOLLA FARMS in the center of the lower map. In a… it pains me to type the words… gated community. The land lease (which was full of words like “witnesseth”) for said community forbade the developers from having an exit on the west side. Why? Because the people on that side didn’t want us riffraff with our million-dollar houses traipsing through their nice neighborhood on our way to the(ir) beach, and, they had the political power to forestall it. (People like Ralph. Of Ralph’s. His house was on sale for $22M, marked down from $29M, a steal!)
Idly checking the maps to see whether that was beaach just blocks away from my grandma’s dinky little house in la jolla.
Nope La Jolla Shores is still open.
Will the sea lions be causing a rise in Shark Attacks in that region because of a constant food supply available .Sharks are keen preditors.
Probably no more than they have already. There have been plenty of sea lions (and sharks) in that area for a long time.
This article says there have been two fatal shark attacks in San Diego county in the last 65 years. So way, way less than the number of drownings.
There are also a ton of leopard sharks in La Jolla, but those are harmless to humans. I saw one swim right under me the last time I was snorkeling there.
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