I still do a double-take every time I see animal lovers eating calamari or squid. I’m not talking about coastal communities whose residents rely on the sea for daily sustenance but people from places where burgers, tofu cutlets, or even lionfish tacos (where they’re invasive) are just a menu swipe away.
Many of us—especially divers and water-sport aficionados—spend our vacations re-planting coral reefs, lamenting illegal fishing in marine reserves, and removing plastic from beaches, yet somehow the seafood platter still seems to be “normal” après-dive culture—even at dive agencies that extol saving the ocean.
Why the disconnect? Maybe it’s willful ignorance: “It tastes good/It’s tradition; don’t ruin it for me.” Maybe it’s the convenience of going with the flow when ordering in a group. Or perhaps it’s a genuine blind spot. We’re so busy campaigning for sharks or coral that we forget that the humble octopus can experience pain, and that we know very little about how it thinks other than it’s incredibly intelligent and can pass a number of tests even a young human can’t. Whatever the reason, the contradiction is impossible to ignore once you’ve locked eyes with a curious cephalopod flashing chromatophore Morse code across its skin.
If you’ve felt that internal tug-of-war, it’s worth asking whether the tentacles on your plate are truly compatible with the conservation ethos we champion underwater.
Following are five evidence-based reasons why divers and ocean lovers might want to retire octopus (and their equally remarkable cephalopod cousins) from their dinner menu.
1. They can feel
A landmark review for the UK government (LSE University) applied eight rigorous neuro and behavioral criteria and found “strong scientific evidence” that octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish are sentient. That is, they can experience pain, pleasure, hunger, anxiety and more. (I wrote about this previously on this page.)
Robyn Crook’s 2021 pain-conditioning experiments took this further. Octopuses injected with a mild acid avoided the place where it hurt and later sought out the chamber where they’d received pain relief, behavior indistinguishable from vertebrates experiencing affective pain.
Cuttlefish have even passed a “marshmallow-test” task, waiting up to two minutes for a preferred shrimp rather than grabbing an immediate crab, a level of self-control comparable to crows and chimpanzees.
For creatures most divers meet eye-to-eye on night dives, these results force us to rethink our actions. When we spear, boil, or grill them, we almost certainly cause suffering. And that’s not even talking about the many places where they’re swallowed live.
2. The law is beginning to agree
Before we dive into the legal landscape, it’s worth acknowledging the elephant in the room: The United States is playing catch-up on animal-welfare protections.
While the EU has regulated cephalopods in research settings since 2010 and the U.K.’s Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act now grants them explicit legal recognition, America still wrestles with “ag-gag” laws that penalize whistle-blowers instead of abusers.
That lag means reforms tend to be piecemeal (California here, Washington there) rather than the sweeping, precautionary measures many European nations already take for granted. Against that backdrop, each new U.S. bill or state-level ban on octopus farming represents a hard-won, but crucial, step towards closing the welfare gap.
- United Kingdom: The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 now legally recognizes cephalopods as sentient, triggering guidelines on handling and slaughter.
- United States (state level): California became the second state (after Washington State) to outlaw octopus farming in 2024, citing intelligence, well-developed nervous systems, and the environmental cost of rearing carnivorous animals.
- United States (federal): The bipartisan OCTOPUS Act of 2025, just re-introduced in the Senate, would ban commercial octopus aquaculture nationwide and block imports of farm-raised octopus.
Legislators rarely move this fast unless the science and public sentiment are compelling.
3. Farming fixes little and may make things worse
Nueva Pescanova’s proposed octopus farm in Spain has become a controversial topic. Critics note it would take more than three kilograms of wild fish to raise one kilogram of octopus, create nutrient pollution, and force solitary animals into crowded tanks where cannibalism and stress are likely. U.S. and California lawmakers cited the same welfare and sustainability pitfalls when drafting bans. In short, aquaculture doesn’t solve wild-stock pressure; it multiplies it.
4. Wild stocks show warning signs
FAO market analyses report declining catches of octopus in recent years, with tight supply driving prices upward and some fisheries already approaching biological limits. Demand, meanwhile, is forecast to exceed 625,000 tonnes by 2025, almost double what oceans currently yield. Every grilled tentacle therefore removes a top-tier predator that structures reef and seagrass ecosystems many divers travel to see.
5. It clashes with the ethos of environmental protection
Divers and ocean lovers spend hard-earned dollars for the privilege of a fleeting interaction with a curious octopus or a color-shifting cuttlefish (increasingly rare).
Choosing to eat them sends a contradictory message to operators, coastal communities, and fellow travelers about what and who has value beneath the surface.
How much does this weaken other messages? About sharks? About conserving seagrass beds? About ending whaling?
What you can do
- Skip eating cephalopods. Get creative and give plant-based “calamari” a try. There are tons of recipes for it, including with oyster mushrooms and heart of palm.
- Support legislative efforts. Sign petitions or contact representatives backing the OCTOPUS Act or similar bans.
- Share your interactions with them. Publish photos, essays, and social posts that highlight cephalopod personalities and their ecological roles. Be the voice for them.
- Partake in citizen science. Log sightings with projects like Reef Check Foundation to help scientists track population trends.
Eating cephalopods is becoming ethically and ecologically indefensible, especially for a community that positions itself as ocean ambassadors.
Opting out of octopus on the dinner plate is a small sacrifice that aligns our appetites with the awe we feel when we’re lucky to happen upon one of our rare cephalopod friends.
