The Spanish multinational, Nueva Pescanova, has announced that it will start marketing the farmed octopus next summer
The first octopus farm in the world is about to become operational in Spain, which could start marketing shellfish in the Iberian country as early as next summer. A news learned with dismay by scientists and environmentalists.
In Spain, octopus is used in various typical and traditional dishes and for this reason there is great demand on the market. It does not surprise us that much, therefore, that someone, to make a profit, has thought of breeding this animal, also considering that the number of octopuses in the wild is decreasing and prices are rising.
In this context, the race to discover the secret to raising octopus in captivity has been going on for decades. A difficult challenge as the larvae only eat live food and need a carefully controlled environment.
However, the Spanish multinational Nueva Pescanova (NP) seems to have succeeded, announcing that will begin marketing the farmed octopus next summer, to be sold in 2023. The farm is expected to produce 3 tons of octopus per year.
The company was based on research conducted by the Spanish Oceanographic Institute (Instituto Español de Oceanografía), which examined the reproductive habits of the Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris).
However, Nueva Pescanova refused to reveal details about the conditions under which the octopuses will be kept. The size of the tanks, the food the animals will eat and how they will be killed are not known to date.
And these things obviously worry (and not a little) scientists and environmentalists who are fighting strongly so that Spain, but also all of Europe and the United States, prevent this terrible and umpteenth cruelty towards animals.
The studies in fact, the last one conducted by the London School of Economics, show that il octopus is an extremely intelligent and sensitive animal moreover, by nature, it's lonely and therefore in confined spaces in close contact with its peers it risks becoming aggressive.
The NGO Compassion in World Farming had already published a research which concluded that the EU had to prevent the authorization of octopus breeding even as a practice contrary to the guidelines of the European Union itself. These farms, in fact, encourage dependence on flours and oil produced by wild fish (remember that octopuses are carnivores).
The problem, too, is that octopuses are considered sentient beings (there has recently been a breakthrough in the UK), but EU law on farm animal welfare only applies to vertebrates, creatures with backbones. Read also: Historic breakthrough in the UK! Octopuses, lobsters and crabs recognized as sentient beings
We hope that a step back will be taken and that cruelty will not be added to cruelty, in fact there are already too many intensive farming of other animal species and there is really no need to add new ones.
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Fonte: BBC / London School of Economics / Compassion in World Farming
Read also:
- Octopus farms may become a reality, but scientists warn it's not a good idea ...
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