World’s first octopus farm sparks ethical debate

Buoyed by rising demand for seafood, a Spanish company plans to open the first commercial octopus farm next year, but as scientists discover more about the enigmatic animals, some warn it could be an ethical and environmental disaster.

“Don’t forget that this is a world milestone,” said Roberto Romero, director of aquaculture at Nueva Pescanova, the company that will invest 65 million euros ($74 million) in the farm, which is pending environmental approval from local authorities.

At the company’s research center in Galicia, northwestern Spain, several octopuses moved silently in a shallow indoor tank.

Two technicians wearing wellies placed a mature specimen in a bucket to move it to a new enclosure, along with five other octopuses.

Based on decades of academic research, Nueva Pescanova has been ahead of competing companies in Mexico and Japan in perfecting the conditions necessary for farming on an industrial scale.

The commercial incentives of the farm, which should produce 3,000 tons a year in 2026 for national and international food chains and generate hundreds of jobs on the island of Gran Canaria, are evident.

Between 2010 and 2019, the value of global octopus trade soared to $2.72 billion from $1.3 billion, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), while landings were only they increased by 9%, to 380,000 tons.

However, previous efforts to farm octopuses have faced high mortality, while attempts to rear wild-caught octopuses have been met with aggressiveness, cannibalism, and self-mutilation.

David Chavarrias, director of the center, affirms that the optimization of the conditions of the tank has made it possible to eliminate aggressiveness and raise five generations in captivity.

“We have not found in any of our crops behaviors related to cannibalism in them,” he said.

But not everyone is convinced. Ever since the 2020 documentary “My Octopus Teacher” captured the public imagination with its story of a filmmaker’s friendship with an octopus, concern for his well-being has increased.

Last year, researchers at the London School of Economics determined, from a review of 300 scientific studies, that octopuses were sentient beings capable of experiencing both distress and happiness, and that high-welfare exploitation would be impossible.

“Octopuses are extremely intelligent and extremely curious. And it is well known that in captivity they are not happy”, declared Raúl García, who directs the fishing operations of the environmental organization WWF in Spain.

Any breeding operation that aspires to a high quality of life by approximating its natural habitat — solitary at the bottom of the sea — would probably be too expensive to be profitable, he said.

Protection

The laws of the European Union (EU) that regulate the welfare of livestock do not apply to invertebrates and, although Spain is tightening its animal protection legislation, octopuses are not included.

Nueva Pescanova has not provided specific details about the size of the tanks, the density or the feeding, alleging commercial secrecy. He has stated that the animals are constantly supervised to ensure their welfare.

Chavarrias said more research is needed to determine if octopuses are really smart.

“We like to say that more than an intelligent animal, it is a resolute animal. I mean he has some resoluteness in anticipation of survival,” he commented.

Despite growing concern over animal rights, demand is on the rise, led by Italy, Korea, Japan and Spain, the world’s largest importer. The natural fishing grounds suffer.

“If we want to continue consuming octopus, we have to look for an alternative way to fisheries because fisheries already have their limit, they don’t give more,” says Eduardo Almansa, a scientist at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, who has developed the technology used by Nueva Pescanova. “At the moment aquaculture is the only option presented.”

Half of the sea products consumed by humans come from fish farms. The industry has traditionally been presented as a means of meeting consumer demand and relieving pressure on fisheries, but environmentalists say that masks its true environmental cost.

About a third of the world’s fish catch is used to feed other animals, and growing demand for fishmeal for aquaculture is exacerbating pressure on already depleted stocks, according to WWF.

Chavarrias, from Nueva Pescanova, acknowledged the concern about sustainability and said the company is investigating the use of fish waste and algae as an alternative feed, but said it is too early to talk about results.

Some activists claim that the solution is much simpler: don’t eat octopus.

“Now there are so many wonderful vegan alternatives. We urge everyone to protest this farm,” said Carys Bennett of the animal rights group PETA.

The project is pending approval from the Canary Islands Department of the Environment.

Asked if the department would consider opposition from rights groups, a spokesman said “all the parameters that are needed for such an assessment will be taken into account.”

Traditional octopus fishermen are also wary of the company, as they worry it could drive prices down and undermine their reputation for product quality.

Pedro Luis Cervino Fernández, 49, leaves the Galician port of Murgados at 5 in the morning in search of octopus. He fears that he will not be able to compete with industrial agriculture.

“The big companies just want to take care of their accounts. They don’t care about small businesses like us”, he declared on his small boat off the Galician coast.

At La Casa Gallega, a Madrid restaurant specializing in Galician-style octopus—with boiled potatoes and a good sprinkling of paprika—staff were unimpressed by the prospect of farm produce.

“I don’t think it will be able to compete with the Galician octopus. What happens with other farmed fish will happen, that the quality is not the same, nor the taste”, commented the waiter Claudio Gándara.