A fishmonger in California purchased a 70-pound octopus, but instead of selling it for money himself, he set it free back into the water. Why? Well as “Finding Nemo” once put it- “fish are friends, not food.” Or in this case- octopus.
Giovanni “Gio” DeGarimore, who owns Giovanni’s Fish Market in Morro Bay, recently stopped selling octopus in his store. He says he became more and more conflicted about selling octopus over the last 10 years after he “played a game of hide and seek for 15-mintues” with one on a diving expedition.
A few months ago he witnessed a sushi chef butcher one alive at a restaurant and at that point he had enough. When the opportunity arose to purchase the 70-pounder, named Fred, for a few hundred dollars, he felt it was a small price to pay to save the “beautiful animal.”
Gio argues, “Financially, it doesn't make sense, but I had to stand for something." He didn’t want to invest in the fisherman’s business who was selling the animal, but you bet he’d do it again. He says, "If I get the opportunity [to free another octopus] again, I definitely will.” Fred has since been released into a safe area of the ocean free of sea lions.
Source: The Tribune