LITERATURE REVIEW
There has been exploitation of octopuses in coastal regions around the world for more than 2000 years. The global octopus production has increased substantially over the last 50 years (FAO, 2009).Globally, Octopus fishing is mostly conducted by the industrial fleets which are composed of demersal trawlers with ice and trawlers-freezers. Industrial fishing is conducted by both national and foreign vessels. In addition to the industrial vessels specialized in cephalopod fishing, others do catch octopuses as incidental catch (i.e. by-catch). These by-catches range from 2% on hake vessels to up to 15% on finfish vessels (FMEM report 2004). These are not reported in data collection. Octopus represents around 70% of this volume of cephalopod catches and 80% of the value of cephalopods. Average price for octopus in 2004 was USD 6,221 per ton (FMEM 2005). Almost exclusively, Cephalopods are exported to the Asian and European market. The fishing effort has also increased substantially due to increased market demand and the high prices that are paid for common octopus (Boyle & Rodhouse, 2005).
Octopus cyanea is the primary species captured in tropical artisanal
