29/01/2026
Octopus has hit the news with the release of a report from the MBA - and news outlets picking up that octopus was mentioned in last week's house of commons debate on fisheries... and that brings a deluge of commentary, some of which is incorrect.
We want to make sure our followers know the real situation.
* When people refer to "the fishing industry" having profited from octopus because they have seen record sales at Brixham market, they are describing a multitude of different vessels in a multitude of areas. We are talking fishing across hundreds of miles, with different gear types. Some fleets have done well - which is great news for them.
* octopus during last year was not evenly spread in our waters, meaning some vessels, some ports, caught very few, or caught none. The octopus numbers for those folks has not countered the decline in crab and lobster catches, meaning they are running at a loss, some very significantly.
* octopus in 2025 had a short season; around four months of one species hasn't compensated for the traditional crabbing season for many within our membership, adding to the decline in vessel incomes.
* a handful of people from our fishery have done fairly well from octopus this last year- that's great news, but it's relative - they too are crabbers by trade and are worried about the future of shellfish populations and what it means for our crabbing heritage.
* South Devon crab is renowned both locally and worldwide. If our crab fleet starts to decline, our community does too. Our fishing supports a myriad of activity in the local area, from engineers to restaurants, the crew on the boats to the drivers who take crabs to Europe and so on. We are worried about what a decline in our crab fishing means for our local communities.
* since octopus arrived, crab and lobster catches are significantly down in our region - between 50% and 80% in most areas, with some vessels at a 98% decline; Octopus are voracious predators. We are working with authorities to understand the detail and the potential long term implications
* in most cases, we at the Shellfishermen are multi generational crab and lobster fishermen, which means we carry detailed knowledge of those species within our communities. Octopus is unknown to us; everything, we mean everything, has changed and this fact is frightening for a lot of us.
* We have community memories of the last time something similar happened. From the mouths of those who know, it "nearly finished" local fishing families. It took a number of years for the ecosystem to recover enough to supply crabs for the table and the tourists - and we have no way of knowing if this time will be the same, or if this is our 'new normal'.
* We have been told to adapt. We are trying as best we can, but please be clear, at the moment, we are adapting to try to survive the here and now; the future remains very uncertain and we are unable to make plans for this year, let alone the long term.
* we are asking for help, because we can't plan for a future when we dont have a clue what it looks like, when everything has changed. It's not just about us, it's about the boat yards who won't be getting refit work, it's about the crab pickers who won't have crab to pick, it's about the community around us teetering on the cliff edge of sharp decline.
We don't know what that help could look like, but we are hopeful that the powers that be can offer some kind of short term lifeline, be that mandating us to collect scientific data for government workstreams, offering funding for adaptation, opening new species to us whilst we work to understand the ecosystem change, or even decommissioning some of our fleet so we can go out more gracefully. We hope that our followers will support our ask that our communities are prevented from catastrophic failure, so they -and we -can be around in some form, for another five+ generations.
Thank you for your continued interest in what we do. We all wait and see what this next season will bring. Please keep your fingers crossed that it's good news. 🤞🦀🐙
