This question has been posed by Rethink Priorities, a non-profit research organisation.

Many animal advocates are working on preventing a new commercial octopus farm (by the Nueva Pescanova group), and octopus farming more generally, from developing. This question is being posted with a view to giving animal advocates more information about the potential scale of this industry, and how much time they have to intervene. It is also interesting and somewhat unique to forecast the trajectory of a new food industry before it has officially begun.

To date the vast majority of octopus consumed by humans is wild-caught. The FAO has never reported an annual production of octopus via farming greater than 117 tonnes—reported by Japan in 1967, see downloaded data here—compared to a reported 500,000 tonnes of wild-caught octopus in 2021. Any octopus farming tonnage ever reported by the FAO has come from just five countries (Japan, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and Tunisia) and is listed under ‘Octopuses, nei [not elsewhere included]’ or ‘Octopuses, etc. nei’. It is not clear where these tonnages originate from (i.e., from which farms/organizations), or if the data represents actual octopus farming—many say octopus has never been farmed before. The practical difficulties of octopus farming (outlined below), the lack of species classification, and small numbers make it difficult to understand what the FAO data indicates, or whether it illustrates the feasibility of octopus farming in the future.¹

In fact, a farm branded as ‘the world’s first octopus farm’ was proposed for development in 2021, in the Canary Islands. The organization behind the proposal, Nueva Pescanova, declared in 2021 that they had successfully raised five generations of octopuses in captivity. In 2019, Nueva Pescanova said that they expected “to be able to sell aquaculture octopus starting in the year 2023.” In 2021 they said “Nueva Pescanova will market the world’s first octopuses born in aquaculture in summer 2022.” They also say they will be able to produce 3000 tonnes of octopus annually. We have not seen any public announcement of the permit approval by the Spanish government, so it is likely to still be pending.

Other countries are also attempting to produce farmed octopus. The Case Against Octopus Farming (2019) reports “The Spanish Institute of Oceanography in Vigo has carried out the majority of published research on octopus farming, but research is also occurring in Portugal and Greece, where the Mediterranean-based company Nireus Aquaculture has funded octopus-farming research. Octopus ranching is being tried in Italy and Australia as well. A farm in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico has reportedly successfully farmed another species, Octopus maya, and attempts to farm octopus are underway in other parts of Latin America, including Chile. In China, up to eight different species of octopus are now being experimentally farmed. In Japan, the seafood company Nissui reported hatching octopus eggs in captivity in 2017 and is predicting a fully farmed market-ready octopus by 2020.”

Compassion in World Farming recently reported that they helped temporarily halt the only octopus farm in the U.S. (though to our knowledge it remains possible that they could obtain permits to resume farming), whose false front of tourism and conservation was exposed as government records showed plans to supply restaurants with octopus.

Octopus farming has historically posed many practical problems. There is variation in an individual’s requirements across its development—historically the early and paralarval developmental stages have presented rearing difficulties and, subsequently, high mortality rates (Uriarte et al., 2011; Spreitzenbarth et al., 2021). Octopus species are carnivorous and can require three times their body weight in feed across their lifetime. They are also solitary, making the large stocking densities required for profitability problematic, and potentially leading to aggression and cannibalistic behavior (Reuters and Aquatic Life Institute). Therefore, many are concerned that octopus farming poses significant animal welfare problems. The Case Against Octopus Farming states “Many octopus species appear to be largely asocial and show little tolerance of other individuals of the same species. Farming such species that, in addition, are carnivorous will almost inevitably require that individuals be kept isolated in small containers, with no scope for environmental enrichment and very poor overall well-being.”

Octopuses may also be highly intelligent—the 2012 Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness stated that octopuses possessed the characteristics required for consciousness and a review by the London School of Economics reported that there is “very strong evidence of sentience in octopods (order Octopoda)” (p. 81). Based on this review, octopuses were ultimately included in the UK’s Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022.

¹ When I reached out to the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Statistics team about where the data came from they replied “Unfortunately, we have no information about the producing companies in addition to the national level data we receive from the competent authorities of producing countries.”