The Sea Lions of La Jolla and the complex nature of user conflicts being experienced in La Jolla now are common whenever there are scarce resources and more than one group that wants to use them.

There is no single perfect solution, but today, our enlightened human population is striving to find the best balance between the users of the marine reserve and beaches in La Jolla.

Actions of in protecting marine mammals including eradicating their predators combined with current human use of seafront property have created a number of conflicts between groups we call stakeholders. (Sea Lions, Seals, Fish, Sharks, Swimmers, Preservationists, Merchants, Tourists, City Council, Mayor, Global/National Fisheries, Greenies, Tax Payers, Lifeguards, Pro-Seal Anti Sea Lion Activists, Researchers (NOAA, Scripps, ONR), Sea World, Residents and Public Health Officials).

The best solution is not yet clear, and any solution will have to continue to evolve as users increase, resources change and the environment itself causes shifts in use.

So far all the moving parts are not well understood, and all stakeholders have not yet had their say. So far each “knee jerk” reaction to this problem has created more controversy. We need to make educated decisions in a situation shaped by a complex set of relationships that will result in the best outcomes today and in the future.

To that end we must understand all of the problem and relationships.

Our group of experienced professionals from many disciplines is applying the practices of Enterprise Engineering (EA) to create a rational approach to this overwhelmingly complex problem.

We propose a workshop demonstrating the applicability of our approach using the problem of the over population of sea lions and the related management issues in the San Diego area.