Animal welfare campaigners in Europe are calling on EU lawmakers to prevent food corporations from establishing large-scale octopus farms throughout the continent following the recent acquisition of a hatchery permit by multinational fishing group Grupo Profand. While the license is specified for research purposes, animal protection organizations say it could open the door to cruel and environmentally damaging industrial production. Grupo Profand claims that the objective of its research hatchery plans, which were approved by the Spanish government, is solely to optimize the larval phase of the common octopus “without the aim of production or commercialization.” However, the project description on the permit request specifies research for “industrial exploitation.”
