Scientists have proven cephalopods are sentient. Activists say they deserve rights. So where’s the policy to protect the ocean’s superstar organisms?
Sitting cross-legged on a dock in remote southeastern Alaska, I bent over the bruised body of a squid. It had died hours earlier, beached on the coastline in front of my cabin. Its body felt strange against the latex of my gloved hand. With a dull paring knife, I readied myself to cut into its red-purple skin. In the body of this squid I was looking for an artist’s treasure: the small sac of ink that produces a rich pigment. I wasn’t as lucky as I had hoped. But what I discovered on the way would profoundly change my perspective on how cephalopods experience the world.
This strange dissection introduced me to a body that was totally foreign to my own. For one thing, I didn’t find a brain. After searching for hours, it became apparent to me that squid, much like octopuses, have a decentralized brain. In fact, most of their 500 million neurons reside in their arms — each of which can smell, taste, and even think independently from one other. This allows cephalopods to think in a radically different way, and possess an embodied intelligence unfamiliar to any human. An octopus brain is more like a federation of states than a single nation — composite parts speaking and cooperating with each other within the same organism. Despite having a central nervous system so foreign to our own, cephalopods have been shown to have “sentience” and to even foster relationships with people.
An Oscar-winning documentary and countless viral videos have demonstrated the dynamic range of octopus sentience to millions worldwide. The scale of this knowledge has far surpassed the scope of animal welfare activists. So where’s the policy protecting these animals?
Animal welfare policies are designed to prevent abuse. If harm was brought against a cat or a dog, people would bring it to the authorities immediately. So what excludes octopuses, crabs, and lobsters from this group of animals worthy of mercy? A bill passed in the UK last year asks policy makers to consider the question of whether spineless marine life deserve the same protection as pigs and cows.
Researchers at the LSE identified sentience in a variety of spineless organisms. Last year, The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill was amended to recognise lobsters, octopus, crabs as “sentient beings.” This change came after research at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) found that decapods and cephalopods are indeed sentient — with complex central nervous systems that are hallmarks of consciousness. Before, British policy limited that title only to animals with a backbone. This bias toward vertebrates ignores much of the animal kingdom that possesses similar characteristics of sentience — the ability to feel pleasure and pain.
While the UK legislation set an important precedent for marine policy decisions, it hasn’t yet impacted the nation’s industrial industry practices. Boiling lobsters alive is still a common norm, and commercial fish processing remains cruel to animals and harmful for people. Such practices will not be impacted by the bill.
For decades, coastal and marine fishing practices have come under public scrutiny. From the collapse of fish stock in New England to the ongoing slaughter of dolphins, concern has moved beyond the range of just environmental activism. The importance of ethical fishing seems more important than ever, as modern science unfolds our understanding of nonhuman experiences. It’s difficult to balance ethics, food demand, and cultural traditions. Ideas about marine animal sentience will implicate biology, philosophy, and politics. But as new evidence emerges, it seems increasingly clear that industrial fishing can neither sustain human needs or provide ethical food.
The fishing industry is stuck in its ways. Reforming it will take work, and advocacy. Widespread use of practices like ikejime represents a step in the right direction. The traditional Japanese technique instantly euthanizes a fish using a “brain spike” to disrupt the brain and spinal cord, minimizing stress signals. It beats the alternative: the industry-standard practice involves suffocating fish in a painful, drawn-out death as they are caught-up in nets and suffocate. As evidence of marine sentience becomes more clear, more humane practices of slaughter should ensue.
The science is clear, but these animals can’t speak for themselves. People need to advocate for invertebrates. And it’s up to governments to regulate the way marine life is handled to protect both sentient animals and the people at the frontlines of the fishing industry. Other countries must follow suit in accordance with the science. Governments can start by banning the slaughter of hyper intelligent organisms like octopuses and squid.
