NJ lawmakers float a preventive ban on octopus farming before 'cruel' practice expands

There’s no octopus farming in New Jersey, but Garden State lawmakers are getting ready, just in case.

Scientists and animal activists have long railed against the practice and a preemptive bill introduced last month in Trenton would prohibit the operation, sale, possession, transportation or distribution of farm-raised octopus for human consumption. The bill makes exemptions for scientific research, but otherwise would levy a fine of up to $1,000 per day for violators.

Lawmakers cite animal cruelty in the farming practices that cause such agony for confined octopuses that the animals will often eat each other or their own limbs. Scientists also cite environmental effects, such as excessive waste dumped into oceans from these aqua farms. And while no current farming operations exist, steep declines in the species have big seafood interests pursuing farms as a harvesting method.

”There's a significant ethical issue when it comes to farm raising octopuses,” said New Jersey state Sen. Andrew Zwicker, a bill sponsor. “ These creatures have tremendous intelligence and sensitivity.”

Currently, there are no licensed commercial octopus farms anywhere, but multimillion-dollar Spanish seafood distributor Nueva Pescanova is in the process of creating a large-scale facility in the Canary Islands, off the coast of Africa. The facility's licensing is stalled until a thorough environmental impact assessment can be carried out. There are also smaller experimental operations in Mexico, China, Spain, Portugal, Chile and Japan.

Octopuses live in every ocean on the planet, including off the coasts of New York and New Jersey. Population assessments for the two states are not publicly available. An estimated 350,000 metric tons of octopus are consumed annually worldwide, according to some research, though experts say the actual number is likely much higher. NPR reports that number may may grow by more than 20% by 2028.

In a 2014 assessment by the International Union for Conservation, population estimates of the eight-legged sea creature declined by 80% over the last three generations as a result of overfishing.

Jennifer Jacquet,  professor of environmental science and policy at the University of Miami, said the seafood industry solution to overfishing by farm-raising isn’t the answer. She said on aquafarms, octopus would be confined to tanks not much bigger than themselves, which is inhumane because the soft-bodied mollusk is accustomed to roaming around a very large area. She said they are known as “adventurous, lively and curious." They travel far distances in a single day using their biological jet propulsion system that allows them to move as fast as 25 miles per hour.

Scientists and ecologists say the behavior of a captive octopus can be extreme and result in a complete biological breakdown. They may swell up, lose their arms and become unable to regenerate them. They swim around chaotically, change colors like they're having seizures, smash into the walls of their tanks, defecate uncontrollably, regurgitate food or chronically pace back and forth.

“In some cases, they have cannibalized themselves,” Jacquet said. “They will eat off limbs when they're bored and stressed in captivity.”

Commercial fisheries may put several octopuses together in one tank, which would cause premature deaths because of the cephalopods’ very territorial behavior. In other words, octopuses who share the same tank may eat each other.

“They're curious, they explore their environment, they tend to like large ranges, and when you narrow that down to these small tanks, they’re just living lives that are very foreign, boring and difficult," Jacquet said.

Octopus farming could also carry a significant environmental toll. Most farmed animals are herbivores. Octopus are carnivores and won’t adapt to a vegetarian diet. Farmed octopus will require freshly caught animals such as mollusks, crustaceans and, to a lesser extent, fish, which Jacquet called unsustainable: Raising 1 pound of octopus requires 3 to 5 pounds of seafood. Experts said this would stress ecosystems and take food resources away from seabirds, sea lions and other carnivorous species.

”This would be like farming a tiger or something like that, which means that we have to catch animals or raise other animals in captivity to feed the octopuses,” said Becca Franks, assistant professor of environmental studies at NYU. “ It's incredibly inefficient and energy demanding. So it’s not a wise way forward from an energy and environmental perspective.”

Large-scale aquafarms create pollution from waste and runoff, including octopus feces. Jacquet said this is one reason the commercial octopus farm planned for the Canary Islands is stalled. The discharge from these operations include nitrogen and phosphorus from feces and food decomposition; contamination from fertilizers, algaecides, herbicides, disinfectants and antibiotics. There is also natural habitat loss as a result of the space these farms use.

Marine aquaculture facilities also require a huge amount of water and energy to operate pumps, aeration and filtration to maintain water quality.

”They haven't done a very thorough environmental impact assessment and people are not clear on how they're going to address issues like pollution from the farms,” Jacquet said.

Congress introduced a bill to ban octopus farming nationwide. California and Washington have already passed octopus farm bans, and activists are pushing for a bill in New York.

New Jersey’s bill sponsors plan to pass the bipartisan bill before the end of the calendar year. The octopus farm ban is currently awaiting a hearing date. If it doesn’t pass in 2025, lawmakers will have to reintroduce the bill and start the process over again.

”As a society, we need to think very carefully about being wise with the economies that we're building out before it happens,” Franks said. “If we can make a case: is this something we really should be doing? If we can do that beforehand, it's so much better than trying to undo it after it's been built out.”