Plans to farm octopuses commercially raise acute welfare concerns given their extraordinary intelligence and solitary territorial nature that makes confinement especially harmful.
Octopus farming raises welfare concerns that exceed those of most other aquaculture because of the extraordinary cognitive complexity of these animals. Octopuses require complex environments with opportunities for exploration problem-solving and hiding. Confinement under high-density conditions conflicts fundamentally with their solitary territorial nature. Multiple governments and scientific bodies have called for welfare assessments before commercial farming proceeds.