California Outlaws Octopus Farming
October 2, 2024
California just enacted a comprehensive state ban on farming octopuses for human consumption and on selling any octopus raised as food. This action aligns with arguments presented in Issues by Jennifer Jacquet and three other international scholars. “We believe that octopuses are particularly ill-suited to a life in captivity and mass-production, for reasons both ethical and ecological,” they write. The authors call on “governments, private companies, and academic institutions to stop investing in octopus farming now and to instead focus their efforts on achieving a truly sustainable and compassionate future for food production.”