Will it be possible in the very near future to eat aquaculture octopus? New Pescanova He believes so and that is why he continues to bet heavily on the cultivation of this species. The Galician company has just achieved close the cephalopod reproduction cycle at its facilities O Grove (Pontevedra). With this success, it plans to market this product from 2023, as the owner company exclusive of patent to cultivate the animal. The wild octopus scarcity It has led to the search for alternatives in an artificial way, like this one. We will explain more to you below.
Objectives and challenges achieved with aquaculture octopus
This product of the sea is one of the most precious and delicious from the kitchen (especially, Galician) that has some marine touch. But the current reality reveals a growing scarcity of wild octopus, the one that is served afterwards well prepared to delight the palate. That it is an expensive product for the diner is further proof of its situation in the seas. So, Pescanova already works with aquaculture octopus, With up to 50 cephalopods born on aquaculture farms in 2018. Recently, one of them has achieved lay eggs, achieving one of the objectives that the company had set for itself.
Going back to the beginning of this project, the research started in the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), entity that agreed with Pescanova the exclusivity of the patent. From that moment on, the company continued with its studies until it achieved raising aquaculture octopus and even take it to your adulthood. Now the latest hit has been the reproduction in an environment other than its natural habitat. Quite an achievement to try to achieve the following: to sell these artificially bred species in order to also fight shortages that is in the seas.
Investigations will continue in the Pescanova Biomarine Center, a new location in Pontevedra also that the firm intends to open next year. According to the CEO of the company, Ignacio González, have the "forecast to start marketing aquaculture octopus from 2023". At the moment, the survival rate of the animal on their farms is being 50%, according to the researcher Ricardo Tur. The most consumed species in Spain it is the one they plan to grow so that it reaches the market. Will they get it?
