“There is no need to develop another farming industry on a model of production that compromises on considerations for animal and environmental welfare.”

David Scheel, ‘Many Things Under A Rock’

We all know by now that octopuses are intelligent, thinking, feeling animals with complex lives, memories, dreams, and the ability to feel pain and fear. But still there are plans to develop octopus farms around the world, breeding them for food, with a facility proposed to be established in Spain (Canary Islands) with the capacity to slaughter up to a million octopuses each year. This proposal joins the established O. maya farm Moluscos del Mayab facility near the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.

Kanaloa Octopus Farm in Hawai’i was closed in September 2023 following investigations and public opposition.

The octopuses in the proposed Spanish facility would number 10-15 per cubic metre confined in a tank, with the conditions inflicting a 10-15% mortality rate. The octopuses would then be slaughtered by being left in water at -3 degrees celsius as no ‘humane’ method of slaughter has been found for octopuses. The farm in Mexico has reported overcrowding, poor water quality, and cannibalism.

An octopus eats three times its body weight, so the feeding requirement on such an intensive farm would certainly place significant further strain on already depleted aquatic environments. Additionally, there will be an increase in animal waste in surrounding waters and their captivity requirements may include the use of antibiotics, as does existing intensive land and aquaculture farming.

What are we asking for?

1. A nationwide ban on establishing breeding or farming facilities of cephalopods for human consumption;

2. A nationwide ban on the sale or consumption of live cephalopods;

3. A nationwide ban on the use of cephalopods in medical research or experimentation;

4. National recognition of the sentience of cephalopods.