KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii — Sandwiched here between the Pacific Ocean and Kona Airport — atop a dusty volcanic desert — dozens of 50-gallon water tanks gurgle and bubble away; each home to a solitary, wild-caught octopus and a couple of floating, plastic bath toys.
Situated on land owned and operated by the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, the Kanaloa Octopus Farm bills itself as a research institute designed to help tease apart the secrets of the day octopus’ reproductive cycle. Doing so, farm owner Jacob Conroy and his staff say, could help protect the species from overfishing by providing humanity with a stable, captive-bred population of protein-packed cephalopods.
“Right now pretty much every octopus you have ever seen — whether it is the ones you see here today, in an aquarium or even on your dinner plate — have all been wild caught,” said Carmelle Joyner, a farm biologist and tour guide. “There is no method for raising octopus in captivity. This means that we are taking them all from our oceans and our reefs ... We are hopeful that if we can figure out how to raise them here, our research can be used to apply to other places to help out their natural population.”
