World Octopus Day: 37 NGOs reject projected farm in Canary Islands as “cruel”

The Ocean Born Foundation and 37 other NGOs have warned the European Commission that octopuses are “extremely unsuitable for farming and there are serious sustainability and animal welfare issues associated with the development of such an industry”. According to them, allowing this practice would conflict with the EU’s own sustainable food production strategy, so they want to ban the import of farmed octopus products.

This letter is a result of the announcement made by the Nueva Pescanova company. Open the world’s first commercial octopus farm in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. This is an initiative that has previously been the subject of criticism from various fronts, including science.

A report by Compassion in World Farming “shows how octopuses are untamed, highly intelligent and sensitive animals that can suffer great damage in artificial conditions such as industrial farms.”

Solitary in nature, these fascinating animals often live and hunt alone. “Containing them in underwater tanks also causes high levels of stress among specimens, which can lead to aggression and even cannibalism.”adds text.

Elena Lara, Director of Mercy World Agriculture Research and author of the report, this World Octopus Day, “we should celebrate these incredible wild animals instead of letting them be confined to an underwater factory farm. It’s time to end factory farming, not expand it. Octopuses are very intelligent creatures who feel pain and distress.”

According to the signatories, such abuse has an impact on the environment“Feeding octopuses will increase pressure on already depleted wild fish populations and It takes 3 kilos of food to produce 1 kilo of octopus meat., 90% of the food is fit for human consumption (crab, squid, hake or shrimp). “Carnivorous diets are extremely unsustainable for the environment,” said Carolina Manhusen, president of the foundation.

Position of Nueva Pescanova

Nueva Pescanova company, its farm (to be operational in 2023) will respect the principles of animal welfare as well as sustainability and circular economy. “It cannot be otherwise, because European legislation and our own Pescanova policy make this a fundamental premise. There is no argument for us, we will rely on science to show that our crops show the utmost respect for animal welfare and sustainability,” Roberto Moreno, Fisheries Manager of this company, told radio station Cope in the Canary Islands.

for him “Scientific evidence for intelligence in these animals is very scarce.”

The purpose of the company, Farmed octopus production starts from 2023 and a volume of 3,000 tons is reached after three years.

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Environment department contact address:[email protected]