The news that the first commercial octopus farm in the world is getting closer to reality has shocked scientists and environmentalists. They contend that such sophisticated "sentient" animals, which are thought to be able to experience pain and emotions, should never be raised for food on a commercial scale.
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Farm-Bred Octopus to Happen Soon
Science Alert said Nueva Pescanova (NP), a Spanish multinational, looks to have won the competition by defeating businesses from Mexico, Japan, and Australia. It has said it would begin marketing octopus raised in farms next summer with plans to sell it in 2023.
The Spanish Oceanographic Institute's (Instituto Espaol de Oceanografa) study of the reproductive practices of the Common Octopus, Octopus vulgaris, served as the foundation for the company's development. According to PortSEurope, NP's commercial farm will be situated upland near the port of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.
The farm is expected to generate 3,000 tonnes of octopus annually. According to the corporation, it will reduce the number of octopuses harvested from the wild.
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Although creating a sustainable and farmed source for octopus, a delicacy of Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, and Mexican cuisines, may excite some diners, the Los Angeles Times reported that this idea had drawn harsh criticism from those who believe that keeping octopuses in captivity is cruel.
The farms, which let visitors handle the crustaceans and include a gift store with octopus-themed decorations and jewelry, have emerged as the focal point of a rising movement calling for the humane treatment of these amusing aquatic creatures.
Advocates call the farm a unique horror show where wild and curious day octopuses are captured and imprisoned in sterile tanks where they spend the remainder of their brief, yearlong lives being poked, prodded, and chased by the fingers and hands of gawking, occasionally shrieking, tourists, as scientific evidence of octopuses' intelligence and self-awareness grows.
Experts Say Octopuses are Sentient Entities
After reviewing more than 300 scientific research, a panel of specialists concluded that octopuses were "sentient entities" and that there was "strong scientific evidence" that they could feel pleasure, excitement, and joy as well as pain, anxiety, and injury.
BBC News said the authors suggested that the government "might contemplate a ban on imported farmed octopus" since they were "convinced that high-welfare octopus farming was unachievable."
Tentacles from octopuses, however, sear in pans, coil on plates, and float in soups worldwide, from Asia to the Mediterranean and, increasingly, the United States. The animals are occasionally eaten alive in South Korea. Octopus populations in the wild are dwindling, and their costs are rising. Every year, an estimated 350,000 tonnes of fish are taken in, more than ten times the amount taken in 1950.
In light of this, scientists have been vying for years to figure out how to breed octopuses in captivity. It's challenging since the larvae can only consume live food and require a properly managed environment.
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