Petition: Ban Octopus Farming Today!

Octopuses deserve to be protected in the wild, not cruelly farmed for human consumption. Farming these intelligent, complex animals is inhumane and also poses significant environmental and public-health risks.

Octopuses have advanced cognitive abilities. They can learn new skills, navigate elaborate mazes, are known escape artists, and even use tools. Because of their complex mental abilities, octopuses have high enrichment needs that simply cannot be met in farming environments. Keeping octopuses in farmed conditions would subject them to intense boredom and mental stress. Octopuses are solitary creatures, viewing other octopuses as a threat — meaning that the close confinement that is a hallmark of industrial farming would cause them significant stress, aggression, and high mortality. Common slaughter practices for octopuses are highly cruel, including freezing and clubbing them to death.

Additionally, octopus farming poses a risk of harming surrounding ecosystems and other marine life by spreading pollution and changing water temperatures, and there is a significant risk of farmed octopuses escaping enclosures and impacting local wild populations. Industrial aquaculture farms are breeding grounds for pathogens, and octopuses are hosts for multiple pathogens and zoonotic diseases that can spread to humans, such as cholera. The use of antibiotics — many of which are used to treat humans as well — to combat these pathogens has the potential for the creation of multi-drug-resistant bacteria.

By signing this petition, I state my opposition to the use of octopuses in farming, also known as octopus aquaculture.