Go Blue! Seafood Sustainability Spectrum

*Click here for an explanation of our Sustainability Spectrum

Sustainability Assessment

Baby Octopus is the marketing name for the very small Asian octopus (octopus spp.) which grows to no more than 3.5 ounces and is not actually a Baby Octopus, but rather a fully grown adult.  These octopuses serve as the main ingredient for Sea Port’s Seasoned Baby Octopus entrée which is part of their Asian Specialty line of products.  Traditional methods of capturing Baby Octopus are usually relatively benign from an environmental standpoint. However, common concerns that exist in many octopus fisheries are:  

1. lack of information about the octopus stock 
2. absence of management measures specific to octopus fisheries

The artisanal nature of many of the fisheries makes data collection and enforcement of regulations (where they exist) difficult.  Because most octopus species have many offspring and grow to reproductive age quickly, their populations are thought to be inherently resilient to moderate levels of fishing pressure.  However, without biomass estimates, it is difficult to determine if current fishing levels are sustainable.  The abundance of octopus may also be closely tied to local environmental conditions such as water temperature and pollution.  Changes in these environmental conditions, in combination with excessive fishing, may deplete octopus populations.  Because there are many unknowns, it would be beneficial to encourage increased data collection.  These data could ultimately aid fisheries managers in better assessing the current state of the octopus fishery and determining what regulations may be necessary to ensure healthy populations in the future.

Environmental Impact: Low to Moderately High

Lack of information about their ecological role as well as outstanding questions about the connections between local environmental conditions and population health make robust assessments of the Baby Octopus fishery difficult. 

Sustainability Improvements Needed

There is a need for more data and information on octopus from fisheries (e.g., location, landings, fishing effort, size of octopus being caught) as well as from scientists (e.g., ecological role of octopus, reproductive strategies). This information can be used to assess the current state of the octopus resource as well as determining what regulations may be necessary to sustain healthy populations.

Actions that Sea Port is Undertaking

Sea Port is requiring that their suppliers provide fishing vessel identification (when available), catch methodology, and catch area information.  In doing so, Sea Port hopes to encourage the Baby Octopus fishery to collect additional critical catch and resource data where none currently exist.  This increased availability of data will allow for fishery management schemes to be establish or improved upon to assure the sustainability of the Baby Octopus fishery.  Sea Port believes that artisanal fisheries such as Baby Octopus impact the marine environment less than industrial methods.  Sea Port also believes that, in aggregate, choosing from a diverse variety of seafood is better for sustaining the world’s seafood resources and Seasoned Baby Octopus should be a part of this variety.

We created the sustainability assessments for each of our seafood items in order to reveal the existing and potential environmental impacts and risks that are associated with producing them for human consumption.  This allowed us to establish the starting position for each of our seafood items along our progressive Go Blue! Seafood Sustainability Spectrum®.   These assessments are only a single snapshot in time and because of this, we will continue to assess and update the critical sustainability needs associated with our supply sources and issue updates to the Go Blue! Seafood Sustainability Spectrum® as needed.  There is a growing global awareness for the need to assure the sustainability of farmed and wild caught seafood and because of this; all around the world positive changes are rapidly occurring at all levels of the seafood supply chain.  We will continue to spread this growing awareness and work with our many industry partners to improve the sustainability of all seafood, which we believe is the ideal protein of choice to feed an ever growing world population.  Our Go Blue! Seafood Sustainability Spectrum® serves as our compass and yardstick as we strive to move all our products forward to becoming more sustainable.  Please join us in this committed quest and Catch Our Wave® to sustainability by choosing a diverse variety of responsibly produced seafood as part of your diet.