Cephalopod welfare and laws in industrial aquaculture: exploring the irrelevance of octopus farming projects
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36151/DALPS.020Keywords:
Octopus, invertebrates, aquaculture, sentience, marine environmentAbstract
According to experts, octopuses are highly intelligent and sensitive beings, capable of experiencing a wide range of emotions such as pleasure, pain and distress. Originally consumed in the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia, octopus is now increasingly sought after in new parts of the world. These animals with extraordinary cognitive abilities re now the subject of large-scale aquaculture projects, such as the one supported by the Spanish company Nueva Pescanova. Given the numerous ethical, economic, and legal issues raised by these projects, a pragmatic study of their relevance seems crucial. Particularly, the lack of legal provisions regulating the breeding of these invertebrates poses a real threat to industry's respect for their welfare. Indeed, the absence of legal provisions or best practice guidelines regulating the farming of these invertebrates is a real threat to the respect of their well-being. That being said, an analysis of existing regulations on aquaculture suggests that, in any given case, octopus farms will not be able to respect the complex physiological needs of these animals. Moreover, the development of such farms constitutes a danger to the marine environment and a serious obstacle to the implementation of environmental protection norms. Finally, commercial models based on intensive octopus farming tend to be not economically viable and will inevitably fail to comply with animal welfare and environmental protection legal requirements.
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