
via Terra Daily
Commercial octopus farming, currently in developmental stages on multiple continents, would have a negative ripple effect on sustainability and animal welfare.
Commercial octopus farming, currently in developmental stages on multiple continents, would have a negative ripple effect on sustainability and animal welfare, concludes a team of researchers in a newly published analysis.
“We are all living during the rapid domestication of aquatic species and research is almost entirely around the question of which aquatic animals we can farm, rather than which animals we should farm,” says Jennifer Jacquet, an assistant professor in New York University’s Department of Environmental Studies and the lead author of the work, which appears in the journal Issues in Science and Technology. “Universities and companies are investing time and money into farming octopus, which we believe is a big mistake. Mass producing octopus would repeat many of the same mistakes we made on land in terms of high environmental and animal welfare impacts, and be in some ways worse because we have to feed octopus other animals.”
The analysis, which notes that nearly 190 countries currently farm approximately 550 aquatic species, is co-authored with Peter Godfrey-Smith of the University of Sydney, Becca Franks, a visiting assistant professor in NYU’s Department of Environmental Studies, and Walter Sanchez-Suarez, a postdoctoral researcher from Spain working at the University of Sussex.
Spain, along with Mexico, Japan, and China are increasing scientific efforts to build the knowledge to scale-up commercial octopus farming. For instance, Nissui, a seafood company based in Japan, is advancing octopus farming and predicting a fully farmed market-ready octopus by 2020.
Given these developments, the research team sought to explore the potential impact of octopus farms.
Its examination of related, existing scholarship revealed the following:
- Unlike farmed animals, most of which evolved as herbivores, the majority of farmed aquatic animal species are carnivorous—for example, salmon, carp, and catfish. Feeding these animals puts additional pressure on wild fish and invertebrates for fishmeal—around 30 percent of the global fish catch is turned into feed for other animals, and the main consumer is aquaculture, which has been a driving force behind overfishing. Farming octopus, also a carnivore, would only exacerbate current conditions.
- Octopus farming would produce high levels of nitrogen and phosphorous pollution from uneaten feed and feces, which contributes to oxygen depletion.
- Research has shown that octopus have considerable cognitive and behavioral complexity, making farming—in which they are placed in enclosed environments—acutely incompatible with their make-up. As a result, the high mortality rates, increased aggression, and parasitic infection found with existing aquatic farms are likely to be significantly more pronounced with octopus.
Looking beyond the challenges posed by such farms, the researchers question their necessity.
“If society decides we cannot farm octopus, it will mean relatively few people can continue to eat them,” they observe. “However, in the case of octopus, this does not pose problems for food security. The main markets for octopus—Japan, South Korea, northern Mediterranean countries, the U.S., China, and Australia—are food secure.
“Right now, the farming of octopus is constrained by the technology, but the technology may well become available to farm octopus at an industrial scale. If such an opportunity comes, we hope that the serious welfare and environmental problems associated with such projects are recognized, and octopus farming is discouraged or prevented. There are better directions for the future of farming.”
Learn more: Envisioned “Octopus Farms” Would Have Far-Reaching & Detrimental Environmental Impact, Researchers Conclude
The Latest on: Octopus farming
via Google News
The Latest on: Octopus farming
- Net Asset Value(s) London Stock Exchange:OOAon December 29, 2020 at 4:11 pm
The Board of Octopus AIM VCT plc announces that as at 21 December 2020 the unaudited net asset value of the Ordinary shares was approximately 112.5 pence per share. The net asset value is ...
- Japan virus outbreaks, scandals sap public support for Sugaon December 29, 2020 at 1:52 am
A vendor makes takoyaki, small dumpling with fried octopus in it beside a poster for ... One of Abe’s former farm ministers resigned as a lawmaker and was hospitalized last week just before ...
- Letters to the Editor - ‘Octopus Teacher,’ stimulus package, local wildlife, listening to politicians and moreon December 24, 2020 at 11:06 pm
Re: “My frenemy the cephalopod — Watching ‘My Octopus Teacher’ upends a family tale of ocean treachery,” by Tracy Dahlby, Saturday Opinion. Dahlby’s report on the documentary My ...
- Sucker punch! Octopuses are filmed randomly PUNCHING fish ‘out of spite’ while hunting alongside them in fascinating footageon December 22, 2020 at 11:56 am
The two species often hunt together and use each other's hunting strategy to their advantage but it is rare to see an octopus punch a fish. While this bizarre behaviour is sometimes out of spite ...
- How to avoid the post-holiday help-desk backlogon December 22, 2020 at 3:01 am
Company call centers and help-desks like this one at State Farm can get overwhelmed after the holidays. Today’s columnist, Raz Rafaeli of Secret Double Octopus, offers ways for organizations to ...
- ‘My Octopus Teacher’ complicated my relationship with the sea creatureon December 18, 2020 at 11:36 pm
I confess I never warmed to our friend the octopus. I like to think I’m as animal-friendly as the next person, but for this cephalopod I’ve reserved the categories of enemy and dinner.
- Hadabuan Hills: The Forgotten Rainforest of Sumatraon December 16, 2020 at 4:00 pm
One key difference was that the local Thais of that area practiced polyculture farming, or mixed crop plantations ... he would still see a giant green octopus swimming across the landscape ...
- A New Breed of Animal Documentaryon December 15, 2020 at 11:32 am
“Gunda” and “My Octopus Teacher” present creatures as ... has just experienced an unmistakable trauma. Pacing around the farm, she conveys a palpable agitation and emotion, before turning ...
- The simple food that fights climate changeon December 14, 2020 at 11:39 pm
The animals that are the source of this food require no feeding, need no antibiotics or agrochemicals to farm. And they actively ... or mesmerising as a deep-sea octopus. Instead it includes ...
- Alfred Molina set to return as Doctor Octopus in 'Spider-Man 3'on December 12, 2020 at 10:58 pm
English-American actor Alfred Molina is putting the metal arms back on to reprise his role as the villainous 'Doctor Octopus', sources told The Hollywood Reporter. As per the outlet, the 67-year ...
via Bing News