Breeding octopuses in captivity raises controversy in science

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About 350 thousand tons of octopus are caught every year. Because of this, there is great interest in raising them in captivity to facilitate their sale. Until then, this was not possible. Dealing with feeding octopuses as well as reconfiguring exactly the environment in which they live, after all, is no easy task. But the multinational Nueva Piscanova argues that it is ready to change that.

The company plans to invest 50 million euros in a farm designed to produce 3,000 tons of octopuses annually. Farming should start next year until the sale of animals begins in 2023.

Methods

According to the company, the production methods applied will be based on an investigation by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography into the breeding habits of the common octopus (common octopus). The farm is located near the port of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

a BBC Try contacting Nueva Pescanova for details about the project, such as the size of the tanks and the food that will be given to the animals. The newspaper did not receive any response.

or discuss

The announcement of the world’s first octopus farm was not enthusiastically received by scientists and conservationists. Nueva Piscanova says she wants to prevent many octopuses from being removed from the wild, but the story is full of nuances.

First of all, people are sensitive animals, capable of feeling emotions – and even pain. Despite this, the animal welfare laws of the European Union do not cover these animal welfare laws, which apply only to vertebrates (organisms with a backbone).

There is no scientifically proven method for humane slaughter of an animal. Moreover, the lack of cognitive stimulation that will be encountered inside the tanks is a negative for the octopus.

The idea of ​​saving nature is also nonsense. These animals are omnivores and need to eat double or triple their body weight to survive. It will be necessary to continue to catch wild fish to turn it into octopus feed, which also affects the ecosystem.

If we keep pigs, why don’t we keep octopuses?

Pigs have also shown themselves to be intelligent animals, but even so, humans continue to turn them into food. The researchers ask that this example be seen as a case that should not be repeated.

At the beginning of agriculture, farm animals were not well understood. Today, their needs are already known and it is easy to improve the life of the animal even on farms. With octopuses, breeders will start from scratch, which will likely cause the animal a lot of suffering before they understand it.