6/13/2023 0 Comments The octopus teacherOne ecologist says octopuses need stimulation and should not be kept in a ‘barren plastic tank’. Tanks of octopuses at the Spanish Oceanography Institute (IEO) in Tenerife. There are no behavioural proxies for measuring octopus welfare, she said, and developing one is hard because of the significant shifts in their behaviour from day to day. While cows, pigs and other farmed animals are also sentient, much more is known about their welfare needs, said Schnell. It found “very strong evidence” of sentience in octopuses and that they can feel pain and distress, concluding: “We are convinced that high-welfare octopus farming is impossible.” Schnell was part of a team of scientists behind a 2021 London School of Economics report that reviewed more than 300 scientific studies on sentience in invertebrates, including octopuses. “If they’re kept in just a barren plastic tank, they’re going to feel extremely exposed.” Captive octopuses have been known to eat their own arms, said Dr Becca Franks, an environmental studies research scientist at New York University, and they are “renowned escape artists”, suggesting they do not like being kept in tanks. Generally solitary animals, octopuses can become aggressive when kept in close proximity to others. The UK recognised octopuses as sentient beings last year. Photograph: A Martin UW Photography/GettyĬritics counter that cultivating these complex creatures would cause great suffering and replicate the harms prevalent in land-based factory farming. Farming octopuses is necessary to “protect a species of great environmental and human value”, said a Nueva Pescanova spokesperson.Ī common octopus in the Mediterranean Sea. More than 350,000 tonnes of octopus are caught each year in countries including China, Japan and Mexico, and wild populations are believed to be rapidly declining. The company argues that the farm will not only fulfil the growing demand for octopus meat but also relieve pressure on wild populations. Nueva Pescanova now appears on the verge of winning this race with a facility that it claims will eventually produce 3,000 tons of octopus meat a year. The prize is cultivating an animal that grows quickly, reproduces easily and commands a high price. From Spain and Mexico to Japan and Hawaii, companies and scientists have been working for decades to solve the myriad challenges it poses, including keeping hatchlings alive, calculating tank conditions and developing the right feed. Yet while the common octopus, Octopus vulgaris, may have found its way into people’s hearts, it is also now at the centre of plans by a Spanish fishing company, Nueva Pescanova, to open the world’s first commercial octopus farm in the Canary Islands next year.ĭemand for octopus meat is increasing – the number of octopuses caught in the wild doubled between 19 – but commercial octopus farming has proved elusive. We are convinced that high-welfare octopus farming is impossible LSE report on sentience in invertebrates
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