Mexico Introduces Legislation to Federally Ban Octopus Farming
March 3, 2026 | 6 min to read
The bill now moves to the Senate commissions for discussion
Mexico City, Mexico – Mexico has introduced legislation to ban all cephalopod farming nationwide. The proposed bill makes Mexico the second country in Latin America to propose legislation to ban octopus farming, following a similar federal bill introduced in Chile in 2025. Senator Maki Esther Ortiz Domínguez, of the Partido Verde Ecologista de México (PVEM), presented the bill in the Mexican Senate. It proposes reforms to the General Law of Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture that would prohibit the breeding or growth stages of any cephalopod species in Mexican territory. No concessions or permits would be granted for such activities. The bill now moves to the relevant Senate commissions for discussion.
The bill was introduced by the organization Fundación Veg, with additional lobbying support, and technical and scientific input provided by Aquatic Life Institute. Both organizations are part of the Aquatic Animal Alliance, a global coalition of over 180 organizations working to improve the welfare of aquatic animals in the food system. Additional coalition members supporting the efforts to ban octopus farming in Mexico include Mercy For Animals Latinoamérica, Plant-based Treaty, Animal Save Movement, Te Protejo, and AnimaNaturalis.
The bill details why a ban on octopus farming is a matter of urgency in Mexico, as the country is home to the only operational octopus farm in the Western Hemisphere, a facility in Sisal, Yucatán, operated in collaboration with the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). After 12 years of operation, the farm has reported mortality rates exceeding 50%, with 30% of deaths directly attributed to cannibalism among confined animals. The facility continues to capture wild reproductive specimens, including gravid females, from natural populations. These conditions demonstrate the ethical and practical impossibility of farming octopuses at any scale.
The bill is also grounded in the precautionary principle, stepping in to protect animals and ecosystems before this industry can grow further.
“Octopuses are physiologically and behaviorally too complex to be exploited in intensive settings, and the evidence from Mexico’s own Sisal farm speaks for itself: 52% mortality, 30% cannibalism, continued capture of wild females after more than a decade; octopus farming is not a feasible industry. We are grateful to Senator Ortiz Domínguez for her openness to support scientific evidence, and taking the lead for animals, ecosystems, and fishing communities. We are proud to have walked this path alongside Fundación Veg and our coalition partners in Mexico. This kind of collaboration between local and international allies is how real change happens,” said Catalina López, Certified Aquatic Veterinarian and Director of the Aquatic Animal Alliance.
The initiative is grounded in environmental, animal welfare, public health, and socioeconomic arguments. It highlights that 100% of the octopus currently consumed in Mexico comes from artisanal fishing, and that industrial farming would displace these traditional livelihoods, contaminate coastal ecosystems through effluent discharge, and increase pressure on already declining wild fish stocks, since octopuses are active carnivores that require large volumes of wild-caught fish as feed. The bill also raises public health concerns aligned with the One Health framework, including the risk of antimicrobial resistance from aquaculture operations and documented cases of paragonimosis, a zoonotic parasitic disease associated with cephalopod consumption, reported in Yucatán.
The bill cites similar legislation in the United States, including formal laws in California and Washington, as well as bills underway in New York, Hawaii, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and at the federal level with the OCTOPUS Act (S.4810). It also references Chile’s Bill 17913-12, introduced in October 2025, the first octopus farming ban legislation in Latin America, also led by Fundación Veg with technical support from Aquatic Life Institute. Additionally, it cites the rejection of Nueva Pescanova’s proposed octopus farm in the Canary Islands by Spain’s environmental authority in 2023. Aquatic Life Institute, which played a central role in supporting each of these legislations, believes that the introduction of this bill in Mexico confirms that the global momentum to ban the practice of octopus farming is accelerating, as the detrimental effects it would have on the environment, public health, local communities, and animal welfare are becoming impossible to ignore.
The environmental, welfare, and public health implications of octopus farming are manifold. These carnivorous animals require diets rich in marine ingredients, exacerbating the pressure on already declining wild fish populations and undermining global sustainable development goals. The overuse of antibiotics in aquaculture has been linked to the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria, with potential spillover effects into human populations. As widely documented, octopuses are highly intelligent and complex animals recognized as sentient by both the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness (2012) and the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness (2024). Conditions of intensive farming and extreme confinement are inherently unsuitable for their well-being, leading to stress, aggression, and unnatural behaviors such as cannibalism. Furthermore, there are no approved humane slaughter methods for these animals. For additional research and information, please refer to ALI’s campaign page.
This legislation amplifies the message that momentum to ban this industry worldwide is growing, Mexico joins a growing list of jurisdictions worldwide that are choosing to prevent the harms of octopus farming before the industry can scale.
About Aquatic Life Institute
Aquatic Life Institute is an international non-profit organization that works on advancing aquatic animal welfare in both aquaculture and wild capture fisheries globally. The organization works with certifiers, nonprofits, academic institutions, industry stakeholders, governments, and the public to improve welfare of aquatic animals.