Protect a Vulnerable Marine Habitat 

San Diego has a full coastline of beaches for humans. The seals and sea lions have their one spot.

The VERY SMALL beaches at La Jolla's Children's Pool and La Jolla Cove have become one of Southern California's most important resting and pupping sites for harbor seals and sea lions.  

Every year, seals and sea lions use these beaches to give birth, nurse their pups, and recover between feeding trips. During these critical periods, repeated human activity on the beach is disrupting their natural behavior and increasing stress. This is illegal. 

These specific beaches do not need to be open to the public, and is most frequented by tourist, who have continued to disrespect our city and our wildlife at growing numbers.

The Children’s pool in La Jolla is closed to the public every year from December 15 - May 15 to protect pregnant seals and their newborn pups during the pupping season, but what is the point if humans, majority of which are tourists, are going to come to this beach and touch / harm the pups, which leads to mothers abandoning them. La Jolla Cove remains open year round, giving the California Sea Lions ZERO reprieve the constant harassment of humans that has been well document for years and years.

This problem is only getting worse.

In San Diego's high-traffic La Jolla Cove, approximately 40% to 50% of newborn seal pups do not survive the season. Wildlife advocates, like the SD Seal Society, contrast this with a much lower mortality rate of about 10% at nearby protected beaches that are closed to public human access.

More and more visitors are not keeping their distance. People continue to enter the beach, approach seals and sea lions too closely in and out of the water, and allow dogs, children, or other disturbances near resting animals.

This is dangerous for everyone involved.

These interactions are interfering with the seals and sea lions ability to rest, nurse their pups, and safely use the habitat that they need for survival. 

This beaches have become a wildlife sanctuary in practice, and the area is protected under federal law by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) because they serves as a major harbor seal and California sea lion rookery. However, the city has allowed these places to become a free for all "waterpark."

Continuing to allow unrestricted public access creates an ongoing conflict between recreation and wildlife conservation, which is one that the seals and sea lions cannot choose to avoid.

We Are Calling For:

• Permanently closing public access to the Children's Pool & La Jolla Cove while maintaining public access to surrounding sidewalks, overlooks, and viewing areas.
• Stronger enforcement of wildlife protection laws and minimum viewing distances.
• Additional educational signage explaining why undisturbed habitat is essential for the seals' health and reproduction.
• Increased monitoring during pupping season to reduce disturbances.
• Proper legal accountability when these rules are broken and the seals / sea lions are abused and harmed.

Why This Matters

Harbor seals and California sea lions return to these areas because they provide the conditions they need to survive and raise their young. 

Human recreation can take place at countless other beaches throughout San Diego, but suitable pupping habitat is far more limited. Less than 5 minutes away is La Jolla Shores, which has better accessibility, parking, and is much more spacious and comfortable.

Protecting these extremely small beaches would:

• Reduce repeated disturbances to resting and nursing seals.
• Improve pup survival by providing a more peaceful environment.
• Support local marine biodiversity.
• Allow residents and visitors to continue enjoying the seals / sea lions responsibly from designated viewing areas.

Wildlife conservation sometimes requires setting aside spaces where animals come first. The Children's Pool and La Jolla Cove have become two of those places.

We urge local leaders like Mayor Todd Gloria, the SD City Council, and wildlife management agencies to permanently close beach access, and prioritize the long-term protection of La Jolla's harbor seal and California sea lion colonies that we are known for around the world, and that 3 million people come to see yearly.

Furthermore, we call on the stakeholders within the city of San Diego to be transparent about why they are not properly doing anything, but know this has been an ongoing problem for decades.

Please sign this petition if you believe this unique coastal habitat should be managed first and foremost as a refuge for the seals and sea lions that depend on it.