Octopus Farm in Sisal Under Threat by Mexican Lawmaker

Most people have never heard of octopus farming. But the only such operation in the entire Western Hemisphere is running right now in Sisal, a small fishing town on Yucatán’s Gulf coast about 50 kilometers west of Mérida — and a Mexican senator wants to make sure it never scales up.

For anyone who has eaten in Yucatán, this story hits close to home. Pulpo — octopus — is everywhere on local menus. It shows up as ceviche de pulpo, marinated in lime with onion and chile; as pulpo a la gallega, with paprika, olive oil, and potato; grilled with achiote and bitter orange in the Yucatecan style; tucked into tacos; and simmered into rich seafood soups and cocktails. The Octopus maya — the Mayan octopus, endemic to Gulf waters and prized for its tender meat — is what gives Yucatán’s seafood its identity. Every single one of those dishes depends on wild-caught fish, landed by the thousands of artisanal fishermen who work the coast from August through mid-December each year.

Sen. Maki Esther Ortiz Domínguez of the Partido Verde Ecologista de México has introduced legislation that would ban the farming of octopus and all other cephalopod species anywhere in Mexican territory, with no permits and no exceptions. The bill has been referred to Senate commissions for discussion. Ortiz Domínguez chairs the Senate’s Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Climate Change.

The case against the Sisal farm is built on its own numbers. Over 12 years of operation, the facility has logged mortality rates exceeding 52%, with roughly 30% of those deaths caused by cannibalism among confined animals. Researchers have had to keep capturing wild females just to sustain the operation.

The farm grew out of a research project at UNAM’s Sisal campus — the Universidad Autónoma de México, the country’s largest university — which was studying Octopus maya. A commercial branch, Moluscos del Mayab, was later established in partnership with local families. Following each production cycle, an average of 388 octopuses are slaughtered and sent to market.

Scientists say the dismal results aren’t surprising. Octopuses are among the most cognitively complex animals in the ocean — solitary, territorial, and poorly suited to confinement. “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,” said Catalina López, a certified aquatic veterinarian and director of the Aquatic Animal Alliance. “Octopus farming is not a feasible industry.”

The bill argues that every octopus consumed in Mexico currently comes from artisanal fishing, and that industrial farming would displace those traditional livelihoods, contaminate coastal ecosystems through waste discharge, and increase pressure on already declining wild fish stocks — since octopuses require large volumes of wild-caught fish as feed. Read more about Yucatán’s octopus fishery and the industry’s push for sustainable certification.

The bill also flags public health concerns, citing documented cases of paragonimosis — a parasitic disease linked to cephalopod consumption — reported in Yucatán, along with risks of antimicrobial resistance from aquaculture operations.

Mexico wouldn’t be alone in pursuing a ban. Chile introduced the first such legislation in Latin America in October 2025. Bills are advancing in several U.S. states, including New York, Hawaii, and Oregon, and a federal bill — the OCTOPUS Act — was reintroduced in the U.S. Senate in June 2025. California and Washington have already passed bans into law. In Europe, a proposed octopus farm in Spain’s Canary Islands was rejected by regional authorities in 2024 over environmental concerns.

The legislation was developed with support from Fundación Veg and the Aquatic Life Institute, both part of the Aquatic Animal Alliance, a coalition of more than 180 organizations focused on aquatic animal welfare. For more on the global push, SeafoodSource has been tracking legislative developments across multiple countries.

Fast Facts

• Sisal, Yucatán is home to the only operational octopus farm in the Western Hemisphere
• The proposed legislation would amend Mexico’s General Law of Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture
• The Sisal facility has logged a 52% mortality rate over 12 years, with 30% of deaths from cannibalism
• Every octopus consumed in Mexico currently comes from artisanal fishing
• Mexico would be the second Latin American country to pursue a ban, after Chile
• California and Washington have enacted bans; a federal OCTOPUS Act has been introduced in the U.S. Senate
• The bill is in committee and has not yet been voted on

Sources: Perishable News, SeafoodSource, Responsible Seafood Advocate, Food Ingredients First, Futurism, Aquatic Life Institute