Progress! The OCTOPUS Act Has Been Reintroduced

With commercial octopus farming looming as the next frontier in industrial aquaculture, members of the U.S. Senate have taken an important step to stop this inhumane and environmentally destructive industry before it begins. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have just reintroduced the Opposing the Cultivation and Trade of Octopus Produced through Unethical Strategies (OCTOPUS) Act, now S.1947. If passed, the bill would ban the farming of octopuses in the U.S. and prohibit the importation of commercially farmed octopus from other countries.

This type of legislation is critically important, as corporations around the world are actively developing ways to farm octopuses despite clear ethical and ecological concerns. In Spain, seafood giant Nueva Pescanova is pushing forward plans to open the world’s first commercial octopus farm in the Canary Islands. Meanwhile, another company, Octolarvae, has been authorized to build an experimental hatchery in Galicia to research captive breeding.

Octopuses are solitary, intelligent, and emotionally complex animals who explore, solve puzzles, and exhibit unique personalities. Forcing them into cramped, barren tanks would inflict immense psychological stress and physical harm. Without protective skeletons, octopuses are especially vulnerable to injury in confinement and, under stress, may even resort to cannibalism. Farming them on an industrial scale would subject these sentient beings to miserable lives and painful deaths—most likely by freezing.

Beyond the cruelty, the environmental costs would also be extreme. Octopus farming produces high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus waste, which could devastate marine ecosystems and create ocean “dead zones.” And because octopuses require live food, farming them would demand massive quantities of fish and other sea animals for feed, further depleting already overexploited fisheries.

While it’s encouraging to see individual states taking action, only a federal ban can ensure that octopus farming never gains a foothold in the U.S., even if the technology becomes viable.

You can help raise awareness about this critical issue by signing and sharing our petition in support of the OCTOPUS Act.