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

Oh, forgot about that. Only vegans are allowed to oppose this.

That means it has to go ahead, as it's inappropriate for omnivores who don't want Octopus farmed (and may not eat it themselves) to do anything to prevent it. Best reverse any laws that omnivores have voted for whilst we're at it - you know, bring back full, blatant hunting with dogs, bear baiting, bull fighting, the establishment of all the environmental and animal welfare charities, send everybody back their donations because they've eaten meat, close down and go back to the Middle Ages.

Humans are a horrendous species. This does not surprise me in the slightest

But no excuse into turn them into human food.
It's not that unusual to find octopus on a menu. They've been human food for a long time! Objection to methods of farming them is a separate (and very valid!) issue.

@NeverDropYourMooncup

Well said!!

This is such a tricky one. I eat meat, but I don’t eat octopus, because I have dived with them and they are very intelligent and playful. However, my friend (vegan) makes a good point that intelligence isn’t an indication of something’s value - would you then value the life of a child with a learning disability less than one without, for instance. So…I don’t know.

In terms of sustainability- I think it would cause similar problems to fisheries, where lots of cheaper fish (which could potentially feed locals) are used to produce higher end fish.

I don't see how farming octopuses is any different to farming any other animal. It's pretty black and white for me so I don't eat any of them.

If you forgive the slaughter of cows, pigs, chickens etc in the name of "food" then you might as well condone octopus farming as well, imo.

This was a sad read. Eating wild also isn't great to be honest. And I admittedly absolutely love eating octopus. When we had a house in Greece I would watch the fishermen clubbing live octopuses to death on the quayside most mornings. Really brutal stuff.

Obscene indeed. I stopped eating octopus long ago, when it was realised how intelligent they are. It’s just unnecessary, doesn’t need to be part of our diet. It would be the same as eating whale or dolphin to me.

I don't though.

Happily eating plants for most of my adult life.
I see no need whatsoever to eat what had once been a living being; I just don't.

They are very intelligent creatures.

Petiton here for those that care:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/635152

if you really want to know how sentient octopi are, this is a wonderful book. https://www.waterstones.com/book/other-minds/peter-godfrey-smith/9780008226299

an octopus brain is arguably as evolved as a human brain, they hate being away from their natural environment and especially hate being in captivity and it is not possible to equate farming them with farming other water-based creatures such as fish.

Eating meat of any kind is, or should be, predicated on the animal having a good life and then as quick and painless a death as possible...neither of these would be available to the octopus. Wild-caught is the only humane option, and even that is a stretch.

They are certainly not nearly as sentient as pigs, cows and sheep.

There is good evidence they feel (in the emotional sense) pain/distress and (on a simple level) pleasure/affection.

It's not remotely the same as eating dolphin. If you want to avoid eating clever animals pigs should be top of the list.

Octopi are strongly curious and exploratory but it doesn't mean the are cleverer than (for example) cows just because they are less sedentary.

Octopodes* are very, very smart. Puzzle solvers, face recognition, can survive out of water for a few hours etc…
I’m pretty sure they and related species if used in a lab, have to have anaesthetic/pain relief.
Amazing development- they have a (ring) donut shaped brain to accommodate their beak. Copper, not iron - so their blood is blue. The female Pacific stays with her young to guard them & starves to death.

Any animal farmed should have a good life and death & we should be prepared to pay for that.

• Greek root word = ‘des’ rather than Latin ‘i’ plural.

They’re terrifyingly intelligent, more intelligent than humans. I watched a study where they were pitting octopodi against humans in tasks including problem solving/tool using/puzzles etc and they out scored humans in every one. If you could turn an octopus into a human and have it perform an IQ test, it’s thought they’d average at 140.

They’re vastly more sentient than any other farm animals

Sorry, I meant 'you' generally speaking (ie. Most of mumsnet)

Thanks for your compassion. Vegan here for almost six years and have never looked back!

Kosher and veggie here, thanks for linking the petition. All industrialised farming is cruel.

Octopus are highly, highly intelligent animals. In aquariums they have to be given regular cognitive tasks or they get bored, languish and die.
Whilst I'm not a fan of any 'factory' farming techniques, I'd rather they were farmed than become endangered/ extinct. Octopus play a very important role in marine biodiversity, so if they are hunted to extinction it would disrupt the marine ecosystem.
I personally don't think any marine life should be on a menu (unless living on an island with no other food source). As our seas really need TLC, and humans need to stop plundering marine life; take out a food source for bigger marine life, and that will bring humans into greater conflict as a food source for bigger fish.

It's absolutely abhorrent, not every living creature needs to be food.

I cannot remember where I read this; it is not original to me (but has played a part in my personal ethos):

"For the animal shall not be measured by man.
In a world older and more complete than ours, they move
finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses that
we have lost, or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear.
They are not our brethren, they are not underlings;
they are other nations - caught with ourselves in the net of life and time-
fellow prisoners of the splendour and the travail of the Earth."

Henry Weston.

It would be like taking ravens, one of the most intelligent of the wild birds and keeping them in the battery cages used for hens. Of course most of us would like to see these banned for hens but it's hard to change an established industry. I think it can be effective though, to campaign to prevent it being set up. No-one is relying on cheap octopus meat, there's just no need for it.

Octopi are among various species of animals which zoologists have wanted to call 'non human persons' due to their intelligence and sentience. I don't agree with any of our farming methods, but this is absolutely barbaric and disgusting.

I love octopus, yummy. I can't see how it's different to any other farming, pigs are intelligent creatures for instance. If you eat meat I can't see why one animal is less worthy than another really. I honestly would eat anything if I was hungry, I'm not so I get to choose, but I recognise that I'm fortunate to have that choice.

Yes I eat farmed animals, though I choose higher welfare standards as im fortunately able to afford them, ditto sustainable fish.

And you are part of the problem.
Makes me sick.