Octopus Farming Ban (Hawaii)

Octopus farming is inhumane and poses significant environmental and public safety concerns.  

Octopuses have significant cognitive ability. They can learn new skills, navigate complex mazes, are known escape artists, and even use tools. Because of their complex mental ability, octopuses have high enrichment needs that simply cannot be met in farming environments. Keeping octopuses in this manner subjects them to intense boredom and mental stress. Octopuses are solitary creatures, viewing other octopuses as a threat. But on farms, they are cruelly overcrowded into small pools together, causing 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 danger 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 the enclosures in which they are kept and impacting local wild populations. Industrial aquaculture farms are breeding grounds for pathogens, and octopuses are hosts of 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. 

​​Why is this law important? ​Octopuses thrive in Hawaiian waters, making the region an attractive location for inhumane octopus farming. It’s important to protect these intelligent, sensitive animals from those who would harm them and the ecosystem for profit. 

​​Coalition Support: ​Animal Rights Initiative

​​For more information about animal protection legislation​ in Hawaii ​and opportunities to take action for animals, visit aldf.org/hawaii.