Life on the Octopus Farm: The Ethics and Future of Growing the World's Most Intelligent Invertebrate

In 2021, the London School of Economics found that octopuses are sentient beings, capable of experiencing pain, distress, and happiness, and that high-welfare farming of them would therefore be impossible.But the enormous international demand for octopus meat continues to grow even as wild octopus populations decline, prompting a race to bring the first farm-raised product to market.At the same time, firestorms of protest in Europe and the United States over the ethics of farming such an intelligent creature are pressuring lawmakers to ban the practice altogether. After working at one of the world’s first octopus farms, on the Yucatán Peninsula, award-winning journalist Richard Schweid embarked on a global adventure to explore the ethics and future of octopus aquaculture.He traveled to octopus-farming sites in Mexico, Spain, and Japan where he met people on both sides of the ethical debate: marine biologists, businesspeople, restaurateurs, animal rights advocates, octopus farmers, and