Plans to farm octopuses commercially have provoked significant ethical debate given their extraordinary cognitive abilities and the welfare challenges of intensive culture.
Octopuses present one of the strongest cases for special welfare consideration in aquaculture. Their intelligence is comparable to some vertebrates. They are naturally solitary and require complex, stimulating environments. Commercial aquaculture systems provide none of this, and high mortality from stress and cannibalism at proposed stocking densities is almost certain. Multiple welfare scientists and organisations have called for a moratorium on octopus farming pending welfare solution development.