Plans to farm octopuses commercially have generated significant welfare concern, given the high intelligence of these cephalopods and the likely welfare challenges of captive intensive production.
Octopus farming represents a frontier welfare issue where proactive precaution can prevent the establishment of a novel high-suffering industry before it scales. The evidence for octopus sentience and the likely welfare costs of intensive, solitary confinement are both sufficiently strong that an absolute ban on commercial octopus farming is justified on welfare grounds. Regulatory action is more achievable before an industry establishes than after.