Petition · past parliament · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Ban the import of farmed octopus into the UK
Closed
1,588 signatures
What the petition asks
We believe the opening of the world’s first octopus farm will repeat tragic animal welfare mistakes with sentient marine creatures and also threatens to create unsustainable food sources by plundering oceans for octopus food. The Government needs to think ahead and ban imports of farmed octopus.
Octopus catches rose by 720% from 1950-1990 and are now in decline, but farming will not necessarily prevent fishing. Increasing supplies could even boost demand.
Farming a species that eats 2-3 times its weight in seafood over its lifetime could also threaten marine conservation and violate UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This is the UK’s chance to prevent powerful, damaging and unethical supply chains evolving and prove octopi's addition to the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill is not a hollow gesture.
Farming a species that eats 2-3 times its weight in seafood over its lifetime could also threaten marine conservation and violate UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This is the UK’s chance to prevent powerful, damaging and unethical supply chains evolving and prove octopi's addition to the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill is not a hollow gesture.
Timeline
| 31 Dec 2021 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 30 Jun 2022 | Closed to new signatures |
Key facts
Signatures
1,588
Status
Closed
Department
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Opened
31 Dec 2021
Closed
30 Jun 2022
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.