When veteran fisherman Brian Tapper checked his 1,200 crab pots in waters off southwest England during this year’s crabbing season, he got a series of unwelcome surprises. At first, in March and April, they were almost entirely empty. Then, starting in May, they were unexpectedly packed with octopuses, before sitting largely empty again over the last month or so. It has been a similar story along the UK’s Devon and southern Cornwall coastline where the seas are warming, and an octopus bloom — the biggest in British waters in 75 years — has left the shellfish industry reeling.

‘Perfect storm’: UK fishermen reel from octopus invasion. (2025, August 29). Manila Standard, p. A6.