It is no wonder that our tide pools are being destroyed by the tourists most of whom are day-trippers who also trash our beaches. The website visitlagunabeach.org starts with the following paragraph.
“The artist colony of Laguna Beach is one of Orange County’s hidden gems, located halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. The city’s topography is unique to other California coastal cities with its seven miles of coves and beaches where visitors can explore sea caves, tide pools, ocean side bluffs, natural tide pools and of course, sandy beaches, all within city limits. Laguna Beach also boasts the most beachfront lodging options in all of California, making it an ideal spot for a beach getaway.”
If you are going to advertise the tide pools I would think that someone would have had enough appreciation for this fragile ecosystem to at least add a sentence about the care required and the rules that must be observed in the tide pool areas. But it seems that as long as we get tourists to flock to Laguna Beach collateral damage to the environment and to beaches and the neighborhoods are acceptable. Is this what we the residents want?
Chris Catsimanes, Laguna Beach
