Why Consumers Should Boycott Octopus Farms

Whether you call them octopi or octopuses, we can probably agree that the octopus is an extraordinary animal. You might be creeped out by them, fascinated by them, or mildly obsessed with them (I fall into this category), but it’s hard not to be a little awed by their intelligence, dexterity, and camouflage. 

And some people really like how they taste, so much so that there are now octopus farms in the works across the world. You will never catch me eating an octopus (but I’m a vegan, so you won’t catch me eating any animals at all). But it is not just my non-animal eating ways that have me worried about octopus farming, and I’m not the only one concerned. 

Animal welfare activists and experts around the world have been sounding the alarm on the problems with proposed octopus farms. That concern has caught on in the United States, with several coastal states passing octopus farming bans and a bill recently introduced to Congress to ban octopus farming in American waters. 

Regulation might limit octopus farming in the United States, but it will not actually put a stop to the practice unless consumers across the globe stand against octopus farming. Even if you aren’t plant-based like me and you like eating octopus, here are three reasons why you, a consumer, should boycott octopus farms: 

Octopuses Are Reclusive Creatures

The last few years have advanced research into the social lives of octopuses. While these animals are not nearly as isolated as we once believed, they are still very reclusive. Putting octopuses together in close quarters is a terrible idea. It goes against their natural tendencies and will be stressful, if not deadly. After all, cannibalism is frequent in the octopus world. 

Octopuses Are Extremely Intelligent 

Octopus research has demonstrated that these may be some of the smartest creatures on our planet. They easily escape their tanks, solve puzzles and mazes, learn faces, camouflage themselves, and mimic other animals and the environment around them. Seeing such intelligent animals trapped and stressed is already a terrible thought. But would they actually stay contained? With octopuses having a reputation as amazing escape artists, it might be very difficult to keep farmed octopuses in the farm. If any disease spreads among farmed octopuses and one escapes, it creates new problems for wild octopuses. 

Octopuses Are Predators

Question: What would happen if you caged up a bunch of predators in the same space and let them interact with humans? Answer: Nothing good. Even a single caged predator can be deadly—the deaths of big cat and orca handlers prove that. 

The fact that octopuses are predators is easily dismissed. After all, they are much smaller than a bear or a shark and seem to be little threat to people. But octopuses are incredibly strong—a giant Pacific octopus, for example, can hold up to 35 pounds on its largest suckers…now multiply that grip strength by the roughly 2,000 suckers the animal has. Thankfully, octopus aggression toward humans is very rare, but its scary when it happens. Caging stressed, strong predators in close proximity to humans seems to be anything but wise. 

On a less dramatic note, octopuses are carnivores. It is estimated that, to get a pound of octopus, you need three pounds of the sea creatures they eat. Octopus farming would still require tremendous amounts of other sea life to be raised or caught in order to keep up with the dietary requirements of the octopuses in captivity, making it an incredibly inefficient way of raising an animal for food. 

I would love to see a world where octopus is never on the menu. But you don’t have to agree with me on that vision to affirm that octopus farming is a remarkably bad idea. Regulation might keep churning forward on both state and federal levels, but consumer action is ultimately what will keep octopus farms from becoming commonplace.