October 8, 2020 — Some researchers have wanted to commercially farm octopus for decades. From trying to raise hatchlings themselves to storing the wild invertebrates in submerged cages, scientists have tried a range of techniques to cultivate watery fields with on-demand access to the elusive creatures.
The closest researchers have gotten is catching wild octopus for a few months of captive rearing before harvest. Today, there are still no functional octopus farms raising the sea creatures from hatchlings in operation — and that’s how some researchers argue things should stay.
In 2019, a handful of scientists started to raise questions about the ethical and ecological issues that might come from farming these remarkably intelligent animals. Speaking up about these concerns before octopus farming becomes a reality was part of the point, says Jennifer Jacquet, an interdisciplinary scientist at New York University. “Our goal was to create that dialogue before [octopus farming] becomes embedded in our society,” she says.