'An atrocious idea' - outcry over taxpayer-funded octopus farming research

Animal advocates are calling for a halt to future government funding of octopus aquaculture research, saying farming the wild, solitary creatures is an "atrocious idea".

In 2022 $1 million in taxpayer dollars was awarded to a three-year research project by the University of Auckland aimed at improving knowledge surrounding the rearing and feeding of the larvae of a native octopus species.

Raising octopus larvae in captivity was described as a "bottleneck" to the viability of commercial aquaculture in the university's proposal to secure the funding.

Animals Aotearoa's Jennifer Dutton said farming octopus would be "immensely cruel" as the animals are solitary creatures, which can fight when grouped together.

"They are wild animals, they are fundamentally incapable of being kept in captivity on an industrial scale," said Dutton.

The current government funding is coming to an end in four months, but the university told RNZ it will continue to seek funding for research into the biology of aquatic creatures, including octopus.

The charity, which is focused on the well-being of farmed animals, has published an open letter as an advertisement in The Post newspaper calling for a funding halt. The letter has been signed by 160 groups from New Zealand and abroad.

Dutton hoped the open letter would raise public awareness of the issue while potential new funding decisions were being made between now and September by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's (MBIE) Endeavour Fund.

She thought the research had largely flown under the radar.

"I think the public has no idea that we would consider something so misguided and cruel," she said.

Consumption of octopus has increased worldwide, leading to an interest in the viability of farming to maintain a supply of seafood, and potentially reduce overfishing. However, since New Zealand's research was funded, octopus farming was banned in the United States in Washington and California due to animal welfare concerns. Consideration of a farming ban is also underway in Hawaii, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Globally, one farm has been proposed in Spain's Canary Islands, but this is not yet commercially operational.

The 2022 University of Auckland research proposal suggested New Zealand could become a world leader in octopus farming and estimated the industry could be worth up to $100m within a decade. It described octopus aquaculture as a low emission means of producing "high quality animal protein that is highly prized in international markets".

It said, if successful, this may help reach a government aquaculture target of $3 billion annual revenue by 2035.

Tiny tentacles and doleful eyes

Auckland University of Technology's Dr Kat Bolstad is a cephalopod expert who focuses mainly on squid. She was quick to point out she was not an expert on octopus welfare, but she did have some knowledge.

University of Auckland's research is focused on a species native to New Zealand waters, the Octopus tetricus, commonly known as the Gloomy octopus due to its doleful looking eyes. It is what is known as a small-egged octopus.

"The small-egged species produce eggs that are about the size of a grain of rice and the babies that hatch out of these are absolutely tiny," she said.

In the wild the larvae would feed on various zooplankton, which were even tinier creatures which live in the water.

"It's just very hard to provide that as a regular live feedstock", she said, which could make raising octopus in captivity difficult.

Even if the food issue was resolved through the University of Auckland's research, a lack of knowledge about behaviour could still pose challenges to successful farming.

While most octopus species have been considered to be solitary species, the Gloomy octopus has been observed living in groups in Australian waters in two sites dubbed Octlantis and Octopolis.

"It's unknown for how much of the life cycle they tolerate this," said Bolstad.

Video footage of one of the sites showed mostly large octopuses, and although they tolerated the presence of other octopuses, there was also video footage of the octopus fighting.

Footage also showed the octopus gathering shells and arranging them around themselves in what were perhaps over-enthusiastically described as gardens.

Bolstad said octopus thrived when they had things in their environment to keep them interested in their surroundings.

"That will be very difficult to provide at a large scale."

Octopus are known to be problem solvers, who can use tools and recognise individuals. They also have a reputation as escape artists and are able to squeeze through any gap their beak can fit through. New Zealand's own Inky the octopus made international headlines after he fled the Napier aquarium when his tank lid was left ajar. He made his way across the floor and escaped to the sea through a 150mm drain pipe.

Bolstad explained that scientists were still debating the best ways to humanely euthanize cephalopods like octopus, squid, and cuttlefish. The proposed methods could prove difficult on an industrial farming level.

Adult octopus were included in New Zealand's Animal Welfare Act, which recognised them as sentient beings and required that their physical, health and behavioural needs were cared for. It is an offence to kill an animal in a way that causes unreasonable pain or distress.

Native species 'a bit more laid back'

University of Auckland Professor Andrew Jeffs led the research and worked with both adult octopus and their larvae.

"They're fascinating animals, I can understand why people are concerned for them."

Adult octopuses were captured and kept in captivity to mate and lay eggs. After eggs were laid the adults were released back into the wild.

"We've never observed adults of our species aggressively attacking each other or cannibalising one another," he said. "We don't know whether that's something peculiar to our species, that they're maybe a bit more laid back, or maybe that we're looking after them you know extremely well, so that they're contented."

The university told RNZ research with animals must be approved by a university ethics committee and researchers follow national and international guidelines.

The eggs hatch into tiny larvae, which float in the water until they grow into octopus babies and begin living on the seafloor.

Successfully feeding larvae was the goal of the study, and Jeffs said the team experimented with lighting intensity and angles to assist the larvae in finding prey.

Octopus larvae have large eyes, although some species are thought to be near-sighted and their tentacles are very short, and without the number of suckers which fully grown adults have, making it harder for them to capture food.

Jeffs found bright light from above increased the amount of brine shrimp the larvae ate by six times. Another part of the research was developing an artificial food from mussel waste which could be fed to the larvae in tiny pellets.

He said the research had multiple benefits.

"Yes, it can open the path to aquaculture, but also it's incredibly valuable in terms of understanding the biology of these species. They're quite unusual in their biology, and we know nothing about it."

Global octopus fisheries were in serious trouble, he said. "If we understand more about the biology, hopefully we can manage them a bit better than we are at the moment."

Government funding

The funding for the University of Auckland's research into octopus aquaculture came from the Endeavour Fund, which is the largest contestable science fund in New Zealand.

Each year between 400 and 500 applicants compete for up to $50m in annual funding, said MBIE's manager of contestable investment Alan Coulson.

"Our goal is to fund excellent research with the potential to positively contribute to New Zealand's future."

He said a range of aquaculture projects had been funded in the past, but to the best of his knowledge this was the first time research had looked at octopus.

The money which funded the octopus study came from a pot of this fund known as the smart ideas fund, which is specifically aimed at fast-turnaround research of three years.

"It's designed to be fast fail," Coulson said. "If it works - great - go on do something more with that work and if it doesn't, you've learnt something along the way."

He said the project ticked assessment criteria including an impact aspect, which looks at the potential benefit to New Zealand.

Projects seeking smart idea funding are assessed by three experts who make recommendations to a board about whether to fund projects.

He said no ethical concerns were raised when the project was considered. A science board makes the final decision and can apply "portfolio balancing" where alignment with government priorities is considered.

Coulson could not comment on whether further projects had been applied for, but said funding for both short and longer term research would be announced in June and September.

The Ministry for Primary Industries Director of aquaculture and fisheries Bridget Giesen told RNZ an Aquaculture Development Plan was released in 2025. This sets out actions to reach the government's $3b revenue target.

"The Plan's actions focus primarily on growing volumes and value from our existing aquaculture species (green-lipped mussels, Pacific oysters and Chinook/king salmon) by maximising the value from existing aquaculture space, and extending into the open ocean for salmon farming."

Other species were being looked at, but these did not include octopus. She said the ministry was aware of the research into octopus rearing.

"For many species, research has concluded that breeding and rearing these species in captivity may be technically feasible, but not commercially viable."

Jeffs told RNZ he was always looking for funding opportunities.

"We're looking for research funding across a wide range of areas, including octopus research."

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