KYIV. March 19. UNN. The plan to build the world’s first octopus farm has caused deep concern among scientists about the future welfare of these creatures, reports UNN with reference to the BBC.
Details
According to confidential documents cited by the BBC, a farm in the Canary Islands plans to raise around one million octopuses for food every year.
Octopuses have never been farmed on a large scale before, and some scientists call the proposed freezing method “cruel.”
A Spanish company planning to open a farm denies that octopuses will be harmed.
Confidential documents detailing the planning proposal for the opening of an octopus farm by Nueva Pescanova have been provided to the BBC by campaign group Eurogroup for Animals.
Wild-caught octopuses are eaten around the world, including in the Mediterranean, Asia and Latin America.
The pursuit of discovering the secret of their captive breeding has been going on for several decades. The process is quite complex, as octopus larvae can only feed on “live” food and require a carefully controlled environment, but in 2019 the company Nueva Pescanova announced that it had made a scientific breakthrough.
The prospect of intensive octopus farming has already sparked controversy, with lawmakers in the US state of Washington proposing to ban the practice before it even begins.
The company plans to keep octopuses in aquariums with other octopuses, sometimes with constant lighting.
The creatures – a species of common octopus – will be housed in around 1,000 tanks in a two-story building that will be located in the port of Las Palmas in Gran Canaria.
According to the documents, the octopuses will be killed by placing them in a tank of water at a temperature of -3°C. There are currently no regulations controlling this aspect, as octopuses have never been farmed commercially before. However, studies have shown that this method of slaughtering fish using ice slush causes a slow death by stress.
The World Organization for Animal Health says it “deteriorates the condition of the fish,” and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) suggests banning the method unless octopuses are planned to be stunned beforehand.
Addition
Some supermarkets have already stopped selling ice-killed fish, including Tesco and Morrisons.
Professor Peter Tse, a cognitive neuroscientist at Dartmouth University, said that “killing them with ice would be a slow death … it would be very cruel and should not be allowed”.
The professor says that octopuses are as intelligent as cats and suggests that a more humane way would be to kill them, as many fishermen do, by hitting them on the head with a stick.