Spurred on by soaring demand for seafood, a Spanish company plans to open the first commercial octopus farm next year but as scientists discover more about the enigmatic animals some warn it could be an ethical and environmental disaster.
“This is a global milestone,” said Roberto Romero, aquaculture director at Nueva Pescanova, the company pouring 65 million euros ($74 million) into the farm, which is pending environmental approval from local authorities, reports Reuters.
At the company’s research centre in Galicia, northwest Spain, several octopuses silently propelled themselves around a shallow indoor tank.
Two technicians in waders plucked a mature specimen into a bucket for transfer to a new enclosure, with five other octopuses.
Building on decades of academic research, Nueva Pescanova beat rival companies in Mexico and Japan to perfect the conditions needed for industrial-scale breeding.
The commercial incentives for the farm, which is slated to produce 3,000 tonnes per year by 2026 for domestic and international food chains and generate hundreds of jobs on the island of Gran Canaria, are clear.
Between 2010 and 2019 the value of the global octopus trade ballooned to $2.72 billion from $1.30 billion, according to data from the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, while landings only rose around 9.0 per cent to 380,000 tonnes.
