Odd Octopus
Rock lobster fishermen in south-eastern Australia have a new weapon in the fight against marauding octopus. The tentacled creatures eat lobsters and constantly raid lobster pots, causing millions of dollars of lost production. But a Western Australian-designed trap, about to be trailed off South Australia, catches the octopus without killing them. Trap developer Craig Camilleri says there is a huge market for live octopus throughout the world, making the lobster muncher a potential money spinner for fishermen. “They would probably achieve maybe eight to nine dollars a kilo on the market floor,” he said. “The market is huge … Japan, Portugal and Spain are probably the biggest eaters of octopus. “We have trouble in our fishery in Western Australia actually servicing our local population so yeah there’s a huge market.”