Octopus aquaculture

Octopus aquaculture describes the captive-raising of octopuses and commercial sale of their meat. A complex and labor-intensive form of farming, octopus aquaculture is being driven by strong market demand in the Mediterranean and in South American and Asian countries. Annual global demand for octopus more than doubled from 1980 to 2019, from roughly 180,000 to about 370,000 tons. The supply of octopus has been constrained by overfishing in many key fisheries and proponents of farming suggest human-induced culturing could help restock natural populations. Opponents of the nascent industry argue that cephalopod intelligence and emotional capacity, as well as the solitary and carnivorous character of octopuses, make them particularly ill-suited to intensive, captive breeding. Commercial sale may stimulate market demand, hastening rather than offsetting the decline in wild stocks. An announcement that a Spanish firm would begin octopus aquaculture as early as 2022 prompted ethical and scientific controversy.

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