SAN DIEGO -- Can people and seals coexist at Children's Pool in La Jolla? Based on the experience of a swimmer who tried to show coexistence is possible, the answer would be no.

A man was clawed and scratched by a seal during a demonstration by a group of swimmers attempting to show that people and seals can coexist at Children's Pool in La Jolla.

SURVEY Who should get to use the Children's Pool in La Jolla? The children because it was orginally made for kids. The seals because they rest and breed there. Both the children and seals should share the beach. Results  |  Disclaimer

In addition, a number of swimmers who came ashore at the pool were greeted by a National Marine Fisheries Service agent who took their names for possible citations, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Sunday's event was the latest flareup in a controversy in which people have tried to regain access to the popular swimming spot, which has been closed because of the seals for four years.

One swimmer was detained after he tried to force his way past a federal agent, saying, "I have a free right," according to the Union-Tribune.

After he shoved the agent, San Diego police wrestled him to the ground and handcuffed him, then took him away in a patrol car. His name was not immediately released.

A police spokesman told the Union-Tribune later there was no record of the incident in the police log and that the man likely was cited and released.

The swimmers, members of the La Jolla Cove Swim Club, announced before their swim Sunday morning that they intended to swim to the pool to show that humans and seals can share the beach.

Anne Cleveland, one of the swimmers who organized the event, told the Union-Tribune that after the incident, she was having second thoughts.

"We tried to make the point that shared use is possible," Cleveland told the Union-Tribune. "We're really saddened because we were really hoping to share the beach with the seals."

Swimmers, scuba divers and sunbathers have been barred from the pool since signs warning of contamination from the seals were posted there in 1997. The city attempted to allow humans onto the beach in 1999, but abandoned that effort after several months.

City lifeguards have strung a rope across the beach at the pool to prevent people form getting to close to the seals, which began to come ashore at Children's Pool in the early 1990s.

About 40 seals basking on the beach dove into the water Sunday when about a half-dozen swimmers approached the shore. One seal got in the middle of the swimmers and began to lunge at them and try to bite them.

San Diego lifeguard Sgt. John Everhart told the Union-Tribune one man was treated for claw marks on his arm and "a few other nicks and scratches."