Octopus Farming; the thought, no, the prospect of it is obscene!

[BadMotorhomeParent]

I can't even read the full article; it just makes me sick.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/25/a-symbol-of-what-humans-shouldnt-be-doing-the-new-world-of-octopus-farming

Do you eat other meat? Genuine question.

YANBU, there is a petition somewhere.

Whilst the thought of eating octopus is incredibly disconcerting I am not sure I can condemn it whilst still eating a variety of other animals, the only difference is in how acceptable the British public see it.

Not sure what the difference is between this and farming any other creature to eat it?

It is sick. But I think the fuss over this is a mass distraction. Insects are on the menu now as "climate saving food".

No.

I have strong personal beliefs and behaviour regarding
animals, and our interactions with them.
Even so, IF animals "must" (and the need not be imo) be farmed - for food, they should have a "decent" existence, and painless death, and be free from fear. This does not seem to be the plan for these creatures.

I don’t have a problem with it in principle, but I doubt it can be achieved economically without causing the animals distress.

I don't agree with that either, or believe it to be necessary.
But this is a new "idea", so it IS different.

Do you think it's necessary?
Do they have any real nutritional value?

How sentient are octopi? Do they know they exist? Do they know they're in a farm?

It is probably "necessary" because there is not enough land to keep walking meat alive, even on feed lots. And I suppose octopuses won't cause a demand on water in the same way that the grain required for beef cattle etc does, when used for growing the feed.

Just the water to keep them confined in tanks prior to dismemberment,.
So they are a drought-resistant product!

They are intelligent - they recognise people apparently.

They will know they are not in THEIR natural environment.

Have you seen My Octopus Teacher? We cannot know everything about them..... But no excuse into turn them into human food.

Octopus is delicious 😳

The article talks about the slaughter plans potentially being more humane than how they slaughter wild octopus. It says there aren’t welfare regulations yet, but perhaps the creation of a farm will prompt legislation.

Most meat that we eat is farmed, and the conditions for dairy cows, shredding make chicks etc are pretty horrific, yet the majority of humans are still carnivorous.

A recent report by the London School of Economics found “very strong evidence of sentience” in octopods.

I'm not the OP, but I do eat meat and come from a farming family, and grew up with hens.

There's farming and there's farming.

The fell sheep where I grew up had nice lives, even if their lambs had short ones.

My uncle's beef cattle were well looked after, he opposed badger culls, and he suffered a mental breakdown during foot and mouth when his animals were, in his view, needlessly slaughtered.

The farmer whose land surrounded us, by no means a fluffy character, refused to allow the hunt on his land because they caused needless destruction, distressed his sheep, and if a fox needed sorting, he had a shotgun for that.

Our rescue hens were in an AWFUL state when we got them, and became productive layers after a bit of rehab and space.

I don't know enough about octopuses, or the proposed octopus farm, to know that there is a vast, VAST difference in farming methods. It really isn't as simple as "do you eat meat" in my opinion.

Who are we, as humans, to decide that about other creatures? Our standards of sentience and the way we "measure" such things are so anthrocentric we have no way of knowing what other creatures think and feel beyond our own reference points so we should just leave them alone. As an aside, octopi have a longer natural lifespan than us.

But the octopuses will require fish for feeding , leading to more overfishing and very inefficient use of resources.

I love octopuses. This has made me very sad. (I am a hypocrite though, not a vegetarian).

I find this concerning too, op. It seems that these farms won’t meet basic needs and will cause huge suffering.

Not all farming is equal in terms of impact on animals and different species have different needs, and this concerns me in the same way that vast dairy farms concern me.

The fact animals already suffer in food production is not an argument for dismissing additional suffering as irrelevant. I want to see welfare standards improved and the number of animals affected reduced, not the reverse.

The difference is whilst there are some cruel farming practices with other animals this has started up before people were so aware of it. Its much harder to stop something that has been going on for years. Octopuses have never been farmed in this cruel way in the past so let's not let it start up. I'm not against eating meat if the animals have had a fairly good life, well treated in comfortable, fairly natural surroundings and slaughtered in the most humane way possible. These octopus farms have very cruel conditions and the Octopuses are killed in a painful manner. They should be stopped right away

I’m an enthusiastic omnivore, I often eat wild octopus along with many other types of seafood when I’m on holiday in Spain & Portugal, and I would have absolutely no problem eating farmed octopus either, assuming it is done humanely, of course.

They're pretty intelligent. More so than say pigs and dogs.

As an aside, octopi have a longer natural lifespan than us.

Octopuses live between 12 months and about 5 years depending on the species.

That doesn’t mean it’s OK to farm them though.

I am currently reading book, "Dominion", about the human-animal "relationships". One of the justifications for the killing of whales, is that they
are seen to be "offering themselves" to the ships...... When their approach is actually curiosity and a very real lack of fear, due to having no NATURAL predator.

I agree with you @BiscuitsandPuffin - who says we have the right to do ANY of what we do to animals, and other creatures?

My thoughts about this come from not only my own instincts, but watching, many years ago, "Earthlings" - which opened my eyes, as well as underlining what I already knew or feared. It just seems that "we" keep on moving the goalposts - and hardly ever in a direction that benefits the animals, only the people.

It can’t be done humanly though, that’s the point. They have established that it can’t be done without causing huge suffering to the octopuses, but are going ahead anyway.