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Opinion: Why Canada needs to take action now to stop octopus farming (PHOTOS)
Mar 17 2023
Khalil Ahmed/Shutterstock
Written for Daily Hive by Chantelle Archambault of the Vancouver Humane Society
In the award-winning documentary My Octopus Teacher, filmmaker and Sea Change Project co-founder Craig Foster says, “A lot of people say an octopus is like an alien. But the strange thing is, as you get closer to them, you realize that we’re very similar in a lot of ways.”
As one octopus develops a complex friendship with Foster, the film demonstrates how intelligent, curious, and sensitive these animals can be.
Industry stakeholders seem to be relying on the perceived otherness of octopuses to enable consumers to look the other way as they begin to establish the first inhumane octopus farms, even as our society is increasingly critical of cruel intensive animal agriculture practices. Thousands of animal advocates and allies across the world have spoken out to agree: it’s not working.
Earlier this week, reports of horrific plans for the world’s first octopus farm began making their way across the media cycle after confidential planning proposal documents were released to the BBC by the organization Eurogroup for Animals.
Kanaloa Octopus Farm, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii/Laura Lee Cascada/The Every Animal Project/We Animals Media
The farm, which is planned to open in Spain’s Canary Islands by multinational corporation Nueva Pescanova, will be a nightmare for octopuses.
In the wild, common octopuses—the species set to be farmed, and the species featured in My Octopus Teacher—are typically solitary animals who are highly territorial. They spend time interacting with their environment, in which they are capable of using complex problem-solving skills and tools. They hunt a varied diet of many marine species, usually at night. They are accustomed to the dark and prefer making their home in crevices where they can easily hide.You might also like:
Mar 17 2023
Khalil Ahmed/Shutterstock
Written for Daily Hive by Chantelle Archambault of the Vancouver Humane Society
In the award-winning documentary My Octopus Teacher, filmmaker and Sea Change Project co-founder Craig Foster says, “A lot of people say an octopus is like an alien. But the strange thing is, as you get closer to them, you realize that we’re very similar in a lot of ways.”
As one octopus develops a complex friendship with Foster, the film demonstrates how intelligent, curious, and sensitive these animals can be.
Industry stakeholders seem to be relying on the perceived otherness of octopuses to enable consumers to look the other way as they begin to establish the first inhumane octopus farms, even as our society is increasingly critical of cruel intensive animal agriculture practices. Thousands of animal advocates and allies across the world have spoken out to agree: it’s not working.
Earlier this week, reports of horrific plans for the world’s first octopus farm began making their way across the media cycle after confidential planning proposal documents were released to the BBC by the organization Eurogroup for Animals.
Kanaloa Octopus Farm, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii/Laura Lee Cascada/The Every Animal Project/We Animals Media
The farm, which is planned to open in Spain’s Canary Islands by multinational corporation Nueva Pescanova, will be a nightmare for octopuses.
In the wild, common octopuses—the species set to be farmed, and the species featured in My Octopus Teacher—are typically solitary animals who are highly territorial. They spend time interacting with their environment, in which they are capable of using complex problem-solving skills and tools. They hunt a varied diet of many marine species, usually at night. They are accustomed to the dark and prefer making their home in crevices where they can easily hide.You might also like:
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By contrast, Nueva Pescanova’s intensive farming plans would keep octopuses in crowded communal tanks, at times under constant light, where they would be unable to express their natural behaviours such as hiding and hunting. The animals would be defenceless as they would be raised and picked off for human consumption.
Keratsini, Greece, 2020; Selene Magnolia/We Animals Media
Plans also note that octopuses will be killed by “ice slurry,” which has been identified as a painful and stressful death for the fish on whom it is currently used. The aquaculture industry has already begun shifting away from this slaughter method, including a requirement in the National Farm Animal Care Council’s (NFACC) Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farmed Salmonids to transition to acceptable methods by 2025.
If we could have stopped industrial-scale animal farming before it began, the reality for animals would look very different now. Industrial animal agriculture has been called the biggest animal welfare crisis on the planet, with more than 70 billion land animals killed for food each year.
Keratsini, Greece, 2020; Selene Magnolia/We Animals Media
The Sentience Institute estimates that 74% of farmed land animals and virtually all farmed fishes are currently on factory farms, which are characterized by large numbers of animals confined in cramped, barren and unnatural conditions. Many of these animals are never given the opportunity to see the sky, smell fresh air free of the scent of ammonia, or feel the grass.
In Canada alone, 825 million land animals were killed in 2021. The number of farmed aquatic animals who are killed in Canada is so enormous that they are counted by weight rather than lives: 191,249 tonnes of finned fish and shellfish in 2021.
The Canadian animal agriculture industry has been the face of numerous scandals over the past decade, as undercover footage revealed live chickens with their legs ripped off, dairy cows cornered and beaten with canes, and conscious sheep flailing about with their necks cut open.
While we can do our collective best to decrease the demand for animal products and address the terrible suffering that industrially farmed animals endure, we sadly cannot go back in time to save the millions of lives squandered in misery, awaiting a painful and terrifying end.
However, we can prevent this tragic fate for octopuses. A federal petition calling on the government to ban the breeding, keeping, and import of farmed octopuses and other cephalopod species in Canada has already amassed more than 10,000 signatures.
The decision is simple, and it must be made now: before another species is subjected to horrific suffering; before cephalopod, farms are established; before the federal government must contend with industry interests and try to unring yet another bell of cruel treatment. For the sake of protecting these intelligent, complex animals, sign the petition today.
Scientists slam plans for world's largest octopus farm
Clare Roth
Clare Roth
DW
March 17, 2023
Leaked plans for the world’s first octopus farm detail how the eight-legged creatures would be slaughtered: by hypothermia. Experts say it’s inhumane.
Nueva Pescanova, a seafood company, has been breeding octopuses in captivity for years with the intent of applying for a permit to farm them in the Canary Islands.
In 2019, the company said it had found a way to breed the animals at large scale for commercial purposes. No company had figured out a way to do this before then.
Octopus sold as food is usually either caught in the wild or bred in small octopus farms in the middle of the ocean — but those farms are a fraction of the size of Nueva Pescanova's proposed farm. The company says it is responding to growing demand in Japan and the US.
How the farm would kill the octopuses
DW has seen the plans, which were leaked and shared by someone close to the matter in Spain. Nueva Pescanova did not respond to phoned requests for comment in time for publication of this article.
The records indicate the company plans to breed around one million octopuses per year, producing around 3,000 tons of octopus meat.
The octopuses would be slaughtered using a method called ice slurry slaughter. That involves submerging the animals in 500-liter plastic containers of icy water where they would develop hypothermia and eventually freeze to death.
Keri Tietge, an octopus expert at Eurogroup for Animals, an animal rights campaign group based in Brussels, said ice slurry slaughter results in a "really prolonged and painful death for the octopuses."
The European Union's Food Safety Authority advises against the use of this method for several fish species already and is in the process of drafting legislation to end its use on sea bass and seabream as well.
Zoe Doubleday, a University of South Australia marine ecologist, said "there are humane ways to euthanize or kill an octopus, but placing them directly into ice slurry is not best practice."
Doubleday said the octopuses could be anesthetized via immersion in seawater mixed with a small amount of magnesium salts or around 3% ethanol before they are killed.
How they will be bred
According to the leaked documents, Nueva Pescanova plans to breed octopuses in tightly packed areas — around 10-15 octopuses per cubic meter — and exposed to 24 hours of light when they are in periods of reproduction.
Doubleday said these conditions sounded "inhumane and stressful, particularly as they are generally nocturnal animals and do not like bright artificial lights."
"All species are different, but octopuses generally need 'dens' in their tanks (like pipes or pots)," said Doubleday.
A farm of the nature suggested by Nueva Pescanova represented a controlled environment, said Doubleday, which would make it easier to kill the animals humanely.
"If we are going to do something new like octopus farming, we should get the animal welfare part right," she said.
How the process will move forward
If the permit is approved by Canary Island officials, Nueva Pescanova will be able to move forward with the construction of its proposed octopus farm. Tietge said this decision could be made "any day."
"They put in the applications over a year ago now," Tietge said. "So they're planning to move on this very quickly. And since they already have the animals in their laboratory, in theory, they could start selling them quite quickly once they have the farm built."
March 17, 2023
Leaked plans for the world’s first octopus farm detail how the eight-legged creatures would be slaughtered: by hypothermia. Experts say it’s inhumane.
Nueva Pescanova, a seafood company, has been breeding octopuses in captivity for years with the intent of applying for a permit to farm them in the Canary Islands.
In 2019, the company said it had found a way to breed the animals at large scale for commercial purposes. No company had figured out a way to do this before then.
Octopus sold as food is usually either caught in the wild or bred in small octopus farms in the middle of the ocean — but those farms are a fraction of the size of Nueva Pescanova's proposed farm. The company says it is responding to growing demand in Japan and the US.
Octopus are a popular seafood, especially in Italy and other countries in southern Europe
Image: Katja Döhne/DW
But octopus experts have criticized the plans Nueva Pescanova's because of the way it says it would kill the animals. Octopuses were declared sentient and capable of feeling pain in a large study published in 2021.
But octopus experts have criticized the plans Nueva Pescanova's because of the way it says it would kill the animals. Octopuses were declared sentient and capable of feeling pain in a large study published in 2021.
How the farm would kill the octopuses
DW has seen the plans, which were leaked and shared by someone close to the matter in Spain. Nueva Pescanova did not respond to phoned requests for comment in time for publication of this article.
The records indicate the company plans to breed around one million octopuses per year, producing around 3,000 tons of octopus meat.
The octopuses would be slaughtered using a method called ice slurry slaughter. That involves submerging the animals in 500-liter plastic containers of icy water where they would develop hypothermia and eventually freeze to death.
Keri Tietge, an octopus expert at Eurogroup for Animals, an animal rights campaign group based in Brussels, said ice slurry slaughter results in a "really prolonged and painful death for the octopuses."
The European Union's Food Safety Authority advises against the use of this method for several fish species already and is in the process of drafting legislation to end its use on sea bass and seabream as well.
Zoe Doubleday, a University of South Australia marine ecologist, said "there are humane ways to euthanize or kill an octopus, but placing them directly into ice slurry is not best practice."
Doubleday said the octopuses could be anesthetized via immersion in seawater mixed with a small amount of magnesium salts or around 3% ethanol before they are killed.
New research shows octopus have feelings
Image: Britta Pedersen/dpa-Zentralbild/picture alliance
But it’s unclear whether octopuses killed in this fashion are safe for human consumption.
But it’s unclear whether octopuses killed in this fashion are safe for human consumption.
How they will be bred
According to the leaked documents, Nueva Pescanova plans to breed octopuses in tightly packed areas — around 10-15 octopuses per cubic meter — and exposed to 24 hours of light when they are in periods of reproduction.
Doubleday said these conditions sounded "inhumane and stressful, particularly as they are generally nocturnal animals and do not like bright artificial lights."
"All species are different, but octopuses generally need 'dens' in their tanks (like pipes or pots)," said Doubleday.
A farm of the nature suggested by Nueva Pescanova represented a controlled environment, said Doubleday, which would make it easier to kill the animals humanely.
"If we are going to do something new like octopus farming, we should get the animal welfare part right," she said.
How the process will move forward
If the permit is approved by Canary Island officials, Nueva Pescanova will be able to move forward with the construction of its proposed octopus farm. Tietge said this decision could be made "any day."
"They put in the applications over a year ago now," Tietge said. "So they're planning to move on this very quickly. And since they already have the animals in their laboratory, in theory, they could start selling them quite quickly once they have the farm built."
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Aquaculture breeding for octopuses
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