NEWPORT — Oregon State University’s marine researchers want an octopus – and asking commercial crabbers to let them know if they happen to find one.
The Hatfield Marine Science Center keeps an octopus for six to nine months before returning it to the wild.
Jaimie Hart, the visitors center aquarist, said it’s not easy to go out in the ocean and find one giant Pacific octopus. So local fishermen are their main source for the cephalopods which are often accidental stowaways.
“An octopus may see a perfectly easy meal in this crab pot,” said Hart. “So they climb in there and get pulled on fishing vessels as bycatch. So, we’re super appreciative of the local fishermen who do call us for donations, because that’s basically our sole resource for them.”
Hart said she thinks it’s more likely that someone will pull up an octopus once crabbing season gets underway. She said they’re putting together kits to hand out to fishermen to safely transport octopuses to shore.
When they receive an octopus, they go through a 30-day quarantine period. During that time they work to build trust between the octopus and the handler. Then they can start to acclimate them to being on exhibit.
When they have an octopus in residence, the public can watch it during feeding sessions at the Hatfield Marine Sciences’ visitor center. When it’s time to return the octopus to the wild, Hart said, they are able to tag along on a research vessel from OSU and find a rocky reef offshore and release the octopus.
— By KLCC
