Ban octopus farming!

Ban octopus farming!

1. In 2021, a seafood company applied for permission to open the world’s first large-scale octopus farm in Spain’s Canary Islands. This action began a chain of events that could end in crisis for some truly incredible animals, and scientists, lawmakers, and regular people from around the world are demanding a
   ban
   on large-scale octopus farms. Today, I’m writing to convince you to join the fight.

Why octopus farming?

2. As the number of people in the world has grown, so has the demand for octopus meat. Many people worry that octopuses have been overfished, because fewer and fewer octopuses are caught by fishers each year.
3. In an attempt to meet the demand for octopus meat, the seafood company has said that their farm will deliver 3,000 tons of octopus meat a year. That would require the

   annual

   slaughter of about one million octopuses!
4. The seafood company says that farming octopuses will help increase the number of wild octopuses, because less hunting will be needed to meet the world’s demand for octopus meat. But a study from 2019 says that farming sea animals can make their price go down. Cheaper prices actually make more people want to eat sea creatures, which means more hunting, not less.

   What makes octopuses special?

5. Octopuses are known for being smart and curious. Scientists have seen them solve puzzles, steal from fishermen, and even sneak out of their tanks to steal fish from other tanks. And aquarium workers and scientists have observed octopuses playing, both by themselves and with their human keepers. Play is generally seen as a sign of both curiosity and intelligence. And octopuses even use tools, such as seashells as doors for their dens. Tool use is rare in the animal kingdom, and usually, only animals that humans have defined as highly intelligent, such as chimpanzees and dolphins, use tools. Octopuses’ problem-solving abilities, play, and tool use demonstrate just how clever these creatures are.
6. Many species deemed highly intelligent like to live in groups. But octopuses tend to mostly live and hunt alone. Octopuses have even been known to kill and eat other octopuses who ventured too close.
7. After looking at the results from many studies, some scientists and governments have classified octopuses as sentient. Sentient, in this case, means having feelings like joy, pleasure, pain, and stress.

The problem with octopus farming

8. People from the seafood company hope to have about ten to fifteen octopuses living in each cubic meter of tank space. This represents a serious problem for animals who are mostly

   solitary

   and who can become violent when approached too closely by other octopuses.
9. Octopuses have such high intelligence and curiosity that they need opportunities for play and exploration. But how can they get those opportunities in crowded tanks? And because octopuses have feelings, being in such unnaturally crowded spaces will likely cause them to feel distress and even pain.

But is there a gentle way to farm octopuses?

10. Although the octopus farm isn’t built yet, the company has started keeping about 100 octopuses in captivity, to see if their plans will work. The people building the octopus farm claim that they have no problems with their octopuses fighting each other or trying to escape. This, they say, is because they keep the conditions in the tanks just right: the water temperature is good, the lighting is perfect, and the octopuses are well-fed. They have also argued that, since they have now raised five generations of octopuses in tanks, the younger generations have evolved to be more docile than octopuses found in the wild.
11. But other scientists point out that the company has no proof that they’ve managed to breed tamer octopuses. And even if they had, I argue that breeding tame octopuses still requires taking intelligent, sentient creatures out of their natural habitat and putting them in crowded tanks. This octopus farm, and indeed, all large octopus farms, must be banned to protect these incredible animals from harm. Write to your local lawmaker, join a protest, and become part of the solution today!