I really don't know how to start this- Doing Research.

Dark_Annie

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I really don't know how to start this and I'm worried that if I phrase it the wrong way, it shan't go down well at all!

I am a short fiction/vingette writer, as well as a University student, and I am working on a somewhat science fiction short story about, shock horror, an octopus! The piece, whilst examining the perils of gesellschaft, is also aimed at demonstrating the intelligence and beauty of the octopus, with strong the hope of deterring people from eating them and an encouragement to preserve their habitats etc. My goal is the promotion of, essentially, octopus welfare.

This is where my post gets a bit tricky. Aside from researching different octopus types, their personalities, temperaments, intelligence and behaviour, I am also researching the mistreatment of octopus. This is not so that I can perpetuate it, but so that I have the correct information to write and campaign against it. I know that the forum guidelines state that "Anyone interested in the mistreatment of cephalopods is not welcome on TONMO.com", but I am truly looking for accurate information to help stop cruelty to cephalopods. I hope this complies with the forum guidelines and I apologise profusely if it doesn't.

Anyway, it's nice to meet you all and I welcome any information you can give me to set me off on the right path.
 
Not to worry, your interests are well within the forum guide lines but I don't know how much factual information the members can/will produce.

You might suggest areas of mistreatment that you would like to investigate. Those of us that keep them (many members have no intent to keep octopuses or other cephalopods and have other ceph intrests) do not feel confining them to an aquarium is a mistreatment but at least one staff member has worked with the importation of a lot of exotics and finds the entire marine process abusive, the blue ring from Australia suffering heavily in this practice, and does not believe in keeping cephs in captivity at all. There are a number of exotic species whos counts in the wild are locally observed as declining but they are not on any watch lists so they continue to be legally collected and sold, most with little chance of natural survival and no chance to propogate. You can browse the exotics forum for a feel for those concerns (you must be logged in to see the forum, a protection TONMO takes agains search engines but makes information available to interested members).

Octopuses as food in general and some of the cruelly barbaric eating practices are not often discussed here so outside research is likely to bring more information. Environment related concerns are the more likely posts you will find. There is current talk of harvesting the Giant Pacific Octopus as food (not being done in quantity today in the US) and work being started to establish current populations and sustainablility so this topic may bring info on a Google search if there is anything in that vain that would interest you.
 
:welcome: to TONMO. I don't think your interests are out of line at all; I believe that forum guideline is more aimed at trolls who want to raise our hackles by advocating various abuse of cephalopods.

There is a very disturbing youtube video around of an Asian (Korean?) practice of eating live octopuses with chopsticks. I don't remember where that was posted, but I'll see if I can find it.

edit: googling for "eating live octopus youtube" finds a large number of disturbing video results, but I don't see the one I was looking for. They're all pretty horrific to anyone who believes an octopus has any sort of awareness, though.
 
Also many species of squid are reproductively overfished ie fished before they have a chance to spawn, which is certainly an issue although not a direct cruelty one (having said that getting hooked out of water and tossed onto a deck then snap frozen, isn't exactly kind!)

Isn't there a football team that tosses Dead GPO's around?
 
OK I'm corrected. I knew it was a sports team of some sort (In case you hadn't guessed I don't follow sports :biggrin2:) and it was an octopus but had it in my head it was a GPO and knew it was dead.......................but in years past there has been controversy on how it got that way!
 

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