FAREWELL TO ARMS: World’s first octopus farm poised to open in Spain, widely denounced as ‘ethically unjustified’
More than 300 scientific studies concluded that octopuses are 'sentient beings' that can experience pleasure, excitement and joy, but also pain, distress and harm.
CLAIRE MARSHALL: News that the world’s first commercial octopus farm is closer to becoming reality has been met with dismay by scientists and conservationists. They argue such intelligent “sentient” creatures – considered able to feel pain and emotions – should never be commercially reared for food… The Spanish multinational, Nueva Pescanova (NP) appears to have beaten companies in Mexico, Japan and Australia, to win the race. It has announced that it will start marketing farmed octopus next summer, to sell it in 2023.
The company built on research done by the Spanish Oceanographic Institute (Instituto Español de Oceanografía), looking at the breeding habits of the Common Octopus – Octopus vulgaris. NP’s commercial farm will be based inland, close to the port of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands according to PortSEurope. It’s reported the farm will produce 3,000 tonnes of octopus per year. The company has been quoted as saying it will help to stop so many octopus being taken from the wild…
Nueva Pescanova has refused to reveal any details of what conditions the octopuses will be kept in, despite numerous approaches by the BBC. The size of the tanks, the food they will eat and how they will be killed are all secret. The plans have been denounced by an international group of researchers as “ethically and ecologically unjustified”.
The campaign group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) has written to the governments of several countries – including Spain – urging them to ban it. Dr Elena Lara, CIWF’s research manager, is angry. “These animals are amazing animals. They are solitary, and very smart. So to put them in barren tanks with no cognitive stimulation, it’s wrong for them.” She says anyone who has watched the 2021 Oscar-winning documentary – My Octopus Teacher – will appreciate that…
Octopus sentience… is to be recognised in UK law through an amendment to the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill. The change has come after a team of experts sifted through more than 300 scientific studies and concluded that octopuses were “sentient beings” and there was “strong scientific evidence” that they could experience pleasure, excitement and joy – but also pain, distress and harm…
Octopuses have large, complex brains. Their intelligence has been proven in numerous scientific experiments. They’ve been observed using coconut and sea shells to hide and defend themselves and have shown they can learn set tasks quickly. They’ve also managed to escape from aquariums and steal from traps set by people fishing. What’s more, they have no skeletons to protect them and are highly territorial. So they could be easily damaged in captivity and – if there was more than one octopus in a tank – experts say they could start to eat each other…
If the octopus farm does open in Spain, it seems the creatures bred there would receive little protection under European law. Octopuses – and other invertebrate cephalopods – are considered as sentient beings, but EU law covering farm animal welfare is only applied to vertebrates – creatures that have backbones. Also, according to CIWF, there is currently no scientifically validated method for their humane slaughter. SOURCE…
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