SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego City Council is asking the city manager to find ways to reduce pollution levels at Children's Pool in La Jolla so humans and a colony of water-fouling seals can co-exist.

"There's no harm in trying to see what we can do in compliance with federal law to restore that balance that once existed" between people and the mammals, Councilman Scott Peters said.

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

With its 6-3 vote Tuesday, the council also rejected the city manager's recommendation to reinstate a reserve at Seal Rock, which is near the Children's Pool area.

The manager had recommended the reserve be renewed for a five-year period, one of the Coastal Commission recommendations in response to a 2001 city request -- made under a different City Council -- for a permanent reserve.

The Children's Pool was deeded to the city in 1931 as a bathing area for youngsters.

But it has been closed to the public since 1997 because of fecal contamination from the seals, which turned the beach into their own squatter colony after the Seal Rock reserve nearby was established in 1994. The first trial reserve period ended in 1999.

Now, about 200 seals live at the Children's Pool beach and Seal Rock.

The council Tuesday heard from dozens of people -- swimmers, divers and La Jolla residents -- who wanted human access restored. It also got an earful from animal advocates and others who said the seals, which have become a tourist draw, should be left alone.

Former Councilman Harry Mathis, who previously represented Peters' La Jolla district, said the area isn't a natural habitat for the seals.

He said it's an artificial pool "created by a manmade breakwater as a treasured legacy to afford generations of our children a place to learn to swim safely in the ocean environment."

"Instead, it has become an arena comparable to the zoo, with the seals in an unnatural element serving as a side show for tourists," Mathis added. "This unnatural condition has altered their behavior because they are no longer in the wild as we know it."

On the other side, people said the seals' presence allows children to see wild animals in their natural habitat.

"One of the most wonderful experiences my daughter and I have experienced was seeing a seal born on that beach," said Betsy Brack. "You can't even just call it local treasure. It's really a national treasure."

Marco Gonzalez of San Diego BayKeeper said that the city has bigger pollution problems than the seal waste.

"When we deal with every ounce of pollution we as humans contribute to the ocean, then we can go and talk to the seals about the poop that they leave behind," Gonzalez said.