Calls to ban planned octopus farm
In the wild, octopuses prefer to live in sheltered and solitary conditions.
Animal welfare organisations are calling for plans for an octopus farm to be rejected over cruelty concerns.
Nueva Pescanova, a multinational seafood company, has submitted plans to build the farm in the Port of Las Palmas in Spain’s Canary Islands. If given the go-ahead, it would be the first commercial octopus farm in the world and could help sustain wild stocks.
However, the plans are controversial. After obtaining information about the planned farm, Eurogroup for Animals has joined with Compassion in World Farming to call on local authorities to reject the plan and for the EU to ban octopus farming.
According to the proposals, submitted by Nueva Pescanova to the General Directorate of Fishing of the Government of the Canary Islands, the farm would rear and slaughter around one million octopuses each year using a number of practices which campaigners and scientists warn could cause significant harm and distress to the animals.
Although octopuses in the wild are mostly solitary and prefer dark, sheltered areas, the animals in the farm would be housed in high-density groups and 24-hour periods of light would be used to speed up the spawning of females. These conditions could be stressful and the close proximity in the tanks could lead to aggression and even cannibalism.
In its proposals, Nueva Pescanova has estimated that there will be a mortality rate of 10-15 per cent among the farmed octopuses.
There are also concerns about the proposed use of ice slurry without pre-stunning for slaughtering the animals. This method, in which octopuses are submerged into tanks of water kept at -3C, causes a slow death which studies have shown to be stressful and potentially severely painful for aquatic species.
Reineke Hameleers, CEO at Eurogroup for Animals, said: “With the current revision of the animal welfare legislation, the European Commission now has the real opportunity to avoid the terrible suffering of millions of animals. We cannot afford to leave aquatic animals behind. We’re calling on the EU to include a ban on octopus farming before it ever sees the light of day, in order to avoid plunging more sentient beings into a living hell.”
Elena Lara, research manager at Compassion in World Farming, added: “We implore the Canary Islands authorities to reject Nueva Pescanova’s plans and we urge the EU to ban octopus farming as part of its current legislative review. It will inflict unnecessary suffering on these intelligent, sentient and fascinating creatures, which need to explore and engage with the environment as part of their natural behaviour.”
Nueva Pescanova has told the BBC that it dedicates “great efforts to promote responsible and sustainable performance throughout the value chain to ensure that best practices are adopted.” The company also spoke last year to The Fish Site about the steps it is taking to protect the welfare of farmed octopuses.
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
