Octopuses and other cephalopods possess remarkable intelligence and are increasingly sought for aquaculture, raising urgent welfare questions.
Octopus farming represents a test case for whether the animal agriculture industry can apply lessons from past welfare failures before scaling a new practice rather than after. The evidence of octopus sentience is strong; the evidence that current aquaculture systems can meet their needs is essentially nonexistent. A precautionary moratorium on commercial octopus farming, pending welfare standard development, is the position increasingly advocated by marine biologists and animal welfare scientists.