Eating Octopus

[gentle music] The Met Office says an exceptionally strong marine heat wave has formed in the seas around parts of England and Wales.

Something extraordinary is taking place in coastal waters around Britain.

One striking change is the surge in octopus around the southwest of England.

Thousands of tons of common octopus, usually only found in abundance in the Mediterranean Sea and tropical areas, are being caught and sold by UK fishermen.

We went home on the Friday, and we didn't really have an octopus.

They rang me on the Sunday night and said, "We've got probably 20 to 30 ton of these octopus," and it was quite a shock.

But while they're having a profound impact on our fishing industry, octopus is still pretty rare on UK menus.

We are incredible creatures of habit, so we're gonna have to do quite a lot, I think, to, to move the British diet, which is pretty static.

I'm Jega Wise, and in this episode of the Food Program, I'm asking the question, should we be eating more octopus? Brixham is home to one of the UK's most well-known fish markets, which dates back as far as the 14th century.

Now a multi-million pound operation, with 70% of its product exported into Europe, Brixham has evolved into the largest fishing port in England in terms of revenue received from fish sold.

And as of last year, octopus have become very much a feature of the daily catch.

I've come to the market to see what's coming in off the boats and get a sense of what it means for the seafood industry as a whole.

Manager of Brixham Trawler Agents, Barrow Young, is giving me a guided tour.