OLYMPIA, WA. – (MyBellinghamNow.com) Farming non-native fish in Washington waters is already banned, and the state House has passed a bill that would extend that to octopus.

House Bill 1153 states that studies have found octopus to be “smart sentient creatures who feel emotion and pain.”

It maintains that farming would be harmful to their welfare and impossible because their intelligence would require them to be kept in solitary enclosures.

The bill also points to environmental issues caused by now-banned farms that raised non-native fish species.

It passed the House 70 to 27 and now moves to the Senate for consideration.

KOMO reports that the only U.S. octopus farm was in waters of Hawaii’s Big Island and permanently closed in January.