Hawaii island’s Kanaloa Octopus Farm has closed its doors for now in response to a cease-and- desist order from the state Division of Aquatic Resources.

The Kailua-Kona aquaculture enterprise and tourist attraction was ordered to discontinue its activities in January because it was operating without the special activity permit required to work with day octopuses under 1 pound and without an aquarium permit for any animals it possesses that were caught in West Hawaii waters.

Owner Jake Conroy said Friday he’s aiming to reopen the business, which has since shortened its name to Kanaloa Octopus, after it complies with the division’s orders.

“We take seriously our commitment to follow all regulations regarding research and humane treatment of the cephalopods in our care,” Conroy said in a statement.

He said he voluntarily paused both the facility’s popular public education program that offers $60 tours and octopus breeding program while continuing to care for the cephalopods at the facility located at the Hawaii Ocean Science &Technology Park on the makai side of Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole.

The operation has come under harsh criticism in recent months from those who say the business is not only violating the law but exploiting wildlife while conducting questionable research.

In addition, a recent story in the Los Angeles Times quoted critics who questioned whether it was cruel to keep highly intelligent octopuses in relatively small tanks for food farming.

Animal activists have gone on a social media offensive in the last few weeks, urging the state to close Kanaloa Octopus permanently.

“Please shut down the Kanaloa Octopus Farm,” said Lisa Ann Kelly on Twitter. “Those cephalopods do not deserve to be imprisoned, used as research ‘tools’ or for entertainment purposes. Thank you for doing the right thing. Mahalo.”

Conroy, a former worker at DAR’s sea urchin hatchery on Oahu, said his operation is not just a tourist attraction but conducts legitimate research with a serious mission.

Octopuses face threats from overfishing, loss of habitat and climate change, he said, and it’s important to be able to breed the animals in captivity to prepare for a future when conservationists may need to repopulate coral reefs or provide octopuses to aquariums instead of relying on wild- caught animals.

“Aquaculture is a slow and painstaking process in which progress is measured over decades,” he said.

One of the big challenges, he said, is figuring out what newly hatched cephalopods want to eat during their first 30 days of life. “Most of the work we do here is in plankton research — trying to determine their preferred source of food. That is key to being able to breed them in captivity.”

For now, the research will not include the day octopus, a regulated species that requires a special activity permit when handling them under 1 pound.

The day octopus has been the company’s primary species research target, but Conroy said he would switch to the Hawaiian bobtail squid, an unregulated species.

The business also rebranded itself by dropping the word “Farm” from its name. Conroy explained that the focus of the 7-year-old business has evolved.

“As we have learned more about the reproductive cycle of octopuses we no longer believe they are good candidates for aquaculture for food production,” he said.

Octopuses are aggressive toward fellow members of its species and must be kept separately, he said. And because they cannot be kept together in large groups, it will be too expensive to raise them for food.

As it is, the facility has room for up to 20 adult octopuses, which are rotated between 100-gallon tanks and larger reef tanks to vary their environment.

Conroy said he has no plans to share Kanaloa’s technology with food production facilities.

Meanwhile, the company recently removed from its webpage any reference to being a nonprofit. Also removed: a link that allows people to donate money to its nonprofit Hawaii Cephalopod Foundation.

Internal Revenue Service records indicate the company lost its nonprofit status after failing to file a Form 990-series return three years in a row.

Asked when he’s aiming to reopen Kanaloa Octopus, Conroy had no target date to share. However, an Instagram post in late January said the operation would be closed “for the next few weeks as we do facility maintenance and repairs.”