Shell Game

SHELL GAME… Squid only has occasion to try lobster (delicious) when Squid’s cephalopod buddies on the northeastern seaboard send them via airplane. But Squid also knows, much like crab fishing on the Central Coast, that when humans fish for lobster in traditional traps on the seafloor with a buoyed rope, it can create potentially fatal impacts on whales, which are protected by human laws.

So Squid found it absurd when two defamation lawsuits were filed last year – one by fishermen in Massachusetts, another by fishermen in Maine – against the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation on account of its Seafood Watch program listing lobster as red, i.e. “avoid,” due to its science-based assessment of the potential impacts of lobster fishing on whales.

Broadly speaking, the lawsuits argued the listing hurt lobster sales. But here’s the thing about defamation lawsuits: You can say bad things, so long as they’re true – the truth is a defense.

On Jan. 9, a federal judge in California dismissed the Massachusetts fishermens’ lawsuit after they agreed to drop it – they’d have been on the hook for the Aquarium Foundation’s legal fees if they lost. (Squid expects the same for the Maine case.)

At its core, it’s a First Amendment case, and last Squid checked, Seafood Watch has every right to make scientific assessments about the harm a fishery can cause to marine life, and shout it out to all species, anywhere in the food chain.

Squid just hopes the lobster fishermen can clean up their practices. Lobster is delicious, after all. Lucky for Squid, all Squid needs to catch a delicacy are tentacles, jaws and ink.

KEEP TRUCKING… Squid oozes around town in whatever configuration is fastest, dodging traffic jams in the old jalopy. Sometimes that means taking the truck route.

Squid had been using a new truck route (as of 2022) in Soledad, until Squid heard a report from contract engineer Leon Gomez who presented on Jan. 17 to Soledad City Council. The new route, it turns out, is more dangerous and less environmentally friendly than the old route. The previous route has 36-percent fewer collisions, was 2.3 miles shorter and fewer schools (two instead of four) are along the way. Improvements, like signage, to upgrade the new route would cost a bunch of money. So Soledad city staff and Gomez recommended returning to the old route.

Mayor Anna Velazquez noted that the council approved a six-month trial and it was supposed to return to the council for consideration – it did, but one-and-a-half years later than it should have. Velazquez suggested holding a community meeting to get feedback, based on concerns she has heard from constituents. So Squid expects the process to remain stuck in park for a little bit longer before they wind back the clock to 2021.