
Mexico is home to 2 octopus species, “Pulpo Maya” and “Pulpo Vulgaris.” Both are almost identical to their Mediterranean counterparts. These sea creatures are short-lived, roaming our oceans for only 1-2 years, growing rapidly, and eating their body weight in only a few days' time.
It's unclear what's exactly responsible for their population increase, but octopuses are thriving in our oceans and some speculate it is due to an increase in global temperatures. It’s also theorized that the exploitation of other marine life by humans, for example, the overharvest of predator fish like grouper and snapper may be contributing to a growing octopus population. Fewer groupers mean not only less predation but also more forage for our octopus friends. Octopus caught in Mexico are shipped around the world, mostly to Spain and other countries on and around the Mediterranean. And of course, some end up on our shelves in the United States.
Travel to any city within the Yucatan state and you will see hundreds of boats all outfitted the same. 25-foot pangas with large outrigger-like booms and 60 horsepower Yamaha Enduros accompanied by smaller boats, maybe as little as 6 ft long, line the shores. These small boats are brought out to sea, and they too have small outriggers of their own. Men drift in both the large and smaller boats, hanging as many lines as they can manage along their bamboo appendages. On the end of their lines, small crabs bump along the bottom hoping to entice mudded up octopus. They catch as many as they can, sometimes going out for days at a time to fill large homemade ice chests, which can also make a sturdy casting platform in a pinch.
While octopus season is only a little longer than 4 months, every boat in the country is harvesting hundreds of octopuses a day. Mexico alone gathered 50 million pounds in 2014, and Corporativos are popping up everywhere. Boat mechanics, buyers, truck drivers, and families follow the octopus fleet.
This sparks the question - Is it sustainable and what happens next if this fishery were to collapse?