SAN DIEGO -- Eroding sea bluffs will force scientists at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla to abandon two of its four buildings this spring, it was reported Monday.

The buildings, perched atop a 180-foot bluff on the campus of the University of California San Diego, must be evacuated because creeping erosion has placed part of their foundations within 10 feet of the cliff's edge, the center's acting director told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

About 120 scientists and staff members of the center -- which is run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- will begin moving in May to temporary offices on the UCSD campus.

By 2011, all of the center's researchers and workers are expected to move into a new complex on La Jolla Shores Drive, the newspaper reported.