Plans to commercially farm octopus raise serious welfare concerns given their solitary nature, intelligence, and the inadequacy of current captive care knowledge.
Octopus farming would confine highly intelligent, solitary animals in mass high-density systems without the environmental complexity they require. Octopuses in captivity require individual housing, enrichment, and stimulation that is incompatible with commercial farming economics. Unlike many other farmed species, farms could not achieve welfare for octopus even in principle under commercial conditions.