Carpinteria residents want a beach closure to protect harbor seals. The city says it doesn’t have the resources.

After the Carpinteria Ad Hoc Seal Advisory Committee recommended a three-year beach closure around the Harbor Seal Rookery, the Carpinteria City Council directed city staff to consult further with the California Coastal Commission on the possibility of a closure. 

At Monday’s meeting, the City Council had some concerns about the financial implications of a beach closure, with the city potentially having to pay staff to pursue a permit with the California Coastal Commission and hire two park rangers to enforce the closure.  

The Carpinteria Ad Hoc Seal Advisory Committee recommended a year-round beach closure around the Harbor Seal Rookery, citing human disturbances as a factor for the declining population.

During public comment, numerous residents spoke in support of closing the area around the rookery to protect the seals for future generations. 

Mike Wondolowski said the population declined after years of stability, and while people on the beach may not be the sole reason for the population decline, he said preventing further disturbances could help offset the declining population. 

“Extending the seasonal closure to year-round would be the most effective thing the city can do to reduce adverse impacts on the seal colony,” Wondolowski said. 

Susan Allen said closing the beach would give scientists more time to discover other reasons and solutions to the declining seal population. 

“We don’t know the answers yet, but as longtime residents, for well over a hundred years, the harbor seals deserve your attention by closing the beach while we figure out what is going on,” Allen said

Many speakers said they’d be willing to help raise the funds needed to support the beach closure.  

To explore the feasibility of a multiyear beach closure, the city looked to San Diego, where the California Coastal Commission approved closing Point La Jolla beach for seven years to protect the local sea lion population. 

However, as conditions for the closure, the City of San Diego had to implement signage, physical barriers, two city park rangers on site daily, and a data monitoring plan that had to be submitted to the California Coastal Commission annually. 

Jeanette Gant, director of Parks, Recreation & Community Services, said it would cost the city $380,000 annually just for the park rangers and a senior park planner to oversee the closure and submit reports to the commission. 

Vice Mayor Monica Solorzano, who was an HSAC member who voted against the three-year closure recommendation, explained that the city doesn’t have the resources to make the closure happen. 

“I don’t want us to go into something without us being ready to do so, and right now, based on the information we have from Coastal Commission staff, the city doesn’t have the resources to do this right,” Solorzano said.

Solorzano did say she’d be willing to revisit the issue during the city’s budget discussion. 

Councilman Al Clark said he didn’t see enough evidence for a link between human disturbances and the number of seals in the rookery, a comment that caused one woman to burst into tears and a handful of people to walk out of Monday’s meeting. 

Clark pointed to Point Mugu, which is on a Naval base in Ventura County, that had a similar rate in seal decline to Carpinteria, despite being closed to the public.

“Because they declined at the same time, it suggests to me that human disturbances, except during the pupping season, have little role on the abundance of seals,” Clark said. 

In 2015, Carpinteria Seal Watch observed 396 adult seals and more than 80 pups. In 2021, it observed 220 adult seals and 64 pups, according to a report from the Ad Hoc Harbor Seal Advisory Data Committee.

Additionally, more seals can be found at the rookery during months where the beach is closed compared with when the beach is open.

The City of Carpinteria currently closes the rookery beach area from Dec. 1 until May 31 to protect pregnant seals and pups from disturbances.

The Harbor Seal Rookery is accessible by the Carpinteria Coastal Vista Trail or Tar Pits State Park. The best way to see the seals is from the Seal Watch Overlook, which can be accessed from the Coastal Vista Trail, with parking available at 499 Linden Ave.

The council directed city staff to get more information about what data the California Coastal Commission would need to approve a beach closure and potential costs. City staff also will explore working with an environmental consultant firm that can gather seal data for the commission.