The octopus bloom off southwest England has created export growth alongside reported losses for some shellfish fishers, prompting government officials to discuss how the industry and regulators should respond.
Fishermen, scientists and fisheries managers met Thursday, Oct. 15, at a conference hosted by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). Defra said it and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) plan to publish a summary of the discussions to inform future decisions, but gave no publication date. Defra announced no new management measures.
A report led by the Marine Biological Association found that common octopus landings in southwest UK waters in 2025 were nearly 65 times the average annual landings from 2017 through 2024. Seafish reported that the value of UK octopus exports rose from £164,000 in 2024 to £12.8 million in 2025, mainly on demand from France and Spain following the bloom.
The gains have not been shared evenly. In a survey of 40 fishermen, 57.6% of surveyed crab and lobster fishermen said the bloom hurt their business between January and August 2025. Another 27.3% reported a benefit and 15.2% a neutral effect.
In International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) area 7e, brown crab and king scallop landings fell by about 50% in January-September 2025 compared with the same months in 2024, while lobster landings fell by about 30%, the report found. Its authors said several factors contributed to the declines and that octopus predation likely played a significant role. They said the bloom’s full effect on shellfish stocks remains difficult to determine and recommended continued monitoring.
Defra said conference participants described shellfish stocks as decimated and raised concerns about more boats using the same grounds, creating tension and safety risks. Defra Chief Scientific Adviser Anjali Goswami said the meeting would help assess the bloom’s effects and possible responses. Mike Cohen, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, described the species as “both a threat and an opportunity for fishermen.”
The research report says common octopus is native to UK waters but usually rare there. It identifies major earlier blooms in 1899-1900, 1932-33 and 1950-51, and records unusually warm sea and atmospheric temperatures during bloom years and the years before them.
