Colombia has introduced legislation to prohibit the intensive farming of octopuses and other cephalopods, becoming the latest country in Latin America to act against the emerging industry before it becomes established. The bill, put forward by Senator Esmeralda Hernández Silva, would also ban imports of products from intensive cephalopod farming systems operating abroad, making it one of the most comprehensive proposals of its kind anywhere in the world.
The legislation, Proyecto de Ley 008 de 2026 (Cefalópodos) del Senado de Colombia, was developed through a partnership between the Aquatic Life Institute and Plataforma ALTO, with the Aquatic Animal Alliance (AAA) leading coalition coordination, technical strategy, and advocacy support.
The Colombian bill forms part of the AAA’s wider regional strategy to stop octopus farming from spreading across Latin America. Working alongside local organisations, the AAA has backed efforts to introduce similar legislation in Chile and Mexico and has recently launched national campaigns in Peru and Ecuador with local partners pursuing the same aim.
According to Catalina López, of the Aquatic Animal Alliance and Aquatic Life Institute, the proposal reflects growing international recognition of the welfare, environmental, public health, and food security risks linked to octopus farming. Colombia has been named among the leading Latin American countries in animal protection policy in recent years.
This is not the first pre-emptive ban on this issue (meaning bans of a practice that has not yet taken place). On 29th September 2024, California banned octopus farming, becoming the second US state to do so. The California Oppose Cruelty to Octopuses (OCTO) Act (A.B. 3162) prohibits octopus farming on land and water as well as the sale of farmed octopuses statewide. California joined Washington state in banning the farming of octopuses and went further by prohibiting the sale of farmed octopuses statewide.
All these legislative moves originated in December 2021, when the Spanish multinational, Nueva Pescanova (NP) announced that it would start marketing farmed octopus in the Summer of 2022 to sell their flesh in 2023. However, in 2026, the project was dropped.
