Title : Outrageously unnatural: The dangers of octopus farming
Abstract:
The viability of octopus aquaculture has recently been evaluated in experimental settings with a desire to mass produce intensively confined octopus products in the near future. This paper analyzes case studies and known challenges that highlight the ecological, economic, ethical, and public health hazards involved with octopus farming. Escapes from confined octopuses are frequently documented and can result in the introduction of apex-predators into local ecosystems. Once into surrounding waters, these carnivorous predators present risks such as disease spread, consumption of exorbitant numbers of crustaceans, and depletion and hybridization of wild octopuses. Moreover, waste runoff from these facilities poses environmental and public health challenges by intensifying harmful algal blooms and introducing parasites. Land based facilities pose their own set of unique problems: octopuses can walk for up to ten minutes on land, have been found escaping into drain pipes, and due to 24/7 reliance on water filtration, electricity outages lead to mass die offs which burden public resources through taxpayer supported relief programs. Additionally, Octopuses are remarkably sentient and farming them entails ethical standards that are unavailable in an aquaculture setting. Their high intelligence means an elevated desire for stimulation, which they would be deprived of in these facilities. In experimental settings, this has resulted in extreme stress, self-mutilation, and high mortality rates largely attributed to cannibalism. Many regions have introduced or completed bans on octopus farming. Based on our findings, we recommend against artificially concentrating octopuses for any purpose.
