Is octopus sustainable | Marine Stewardship Council

Sustainable octopus is widely available in Australia and New Zealand with the blue fish tick label.

What is octopus?

Octopus is an eight-limbed mollusc with a soft body. Globally, around 300 species are recognised.

How do I know if octopus is sustainable?

There is no such thing as a sustainable species of fish. Only sustainable populations of fish. The Western Australia Octopus fishery is the world’s first to be certified in the Southern hemisphere to the Marine Stewardship Council’s global standard for a well-managed and sustainable fishery.

You'll find MSC certified sustainable octopus products from the Fremantle Octopus and Abrolhos Octopus brands with the blue fish tick in major retailers.

Western Australia octopus earns the blue fish tick for sustainability

The Western Australia octopus fishery has become the first octopus fishery in the southern hemisphere to be certified to the internationally recognised Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard for sustainable fishing.

The Western Australian octopus fishery fleet targets octopus (Octopus sp.), primarily using unique trigger trap technology developed in Western Australia and has less than 1% bycatch. Annual octopus catch in the fishery was 189 tonnes in 2017, and there is scope to sustainably fish towards 1,000 tonnes
The trigger trap technology used to catch octopus in the WA Octopus fishery tends to catch male octopus. This may be attributed to traps being an active gear type and the tendency of males to actively hunt and look for females.
Average age of octopus found in WA is just 1.5 years
Females brood their eggs for around a month which helps to understand why the catch rate of male octopus is higher.
The Western Australian Octopus is endemic to the temperate waters of Western Australia from Shark Bay to Esperance
12 species from Western Australian fisheries now have the MSC blue fish tick for sustainability, representing close to 90% of fisheries by value in the state.