08 Mar 2024 --- The US states of Washington, California and Hawaii have introduced bills to outlaw octopus farming and animal protection groups are confident that similar bans will proliferate across the country. The US bans could also influence the EU, which sees itself as the global leader in animal welfare, to take similar action. In Europe, a fierce debate is raging around Nueva Pescanova’s plans to open the world’s first industrial octopus farm in the Canary Islands. The Spanish company told us it wants to respond to increasing consumer demand for octopus meat by launching the facility, but NGOs insist the sentient animals could never be farmed ethically or sustainably.
