Despite several inches of rainfall, LSU AgCenter Crawfish Specialist Mark Shirley says Louisianans will not see a boost in what’s expected to be a dismal crawfish season. He says the rain will help flush ponds but will not increase crawfish harvest.
“So the few crawfish that are in the ponds right now, they do need some warmer temperatures. So the rain and warmer temperatures this week is actually helping a little bit. But its a fraction of what would normally be hatched out in the ponds in a normal year.”
Last summer’s 2023 historic drought impacted this year’s crawfish harvest. Eighty-eight percent of the Bayou State is still experiencing some level of drought, according to today’s U-S drought monitor.
Shirley says some farmers produced zero crawfish, while others did not have quite an average production. He says prices have sky-rocketed for buyers who are purchasing less this year.
“A lot of the buyers I talk to right now, they’re only buying maybe five or less than 10 percent of what they normally buy this time of year.”
Louisiana farmers on average produce 100 to 120 million pounds of crawfish per year, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Shirley says he’s hopeful for an increase in harvest this year, but it’s still a waiting game.
“There’s very few small crawfish that we should see sometime in March and April so there will be some harvest by then. Rather it’s 50 percent or normal, or 60 or 40, it’s kind of up in the air right now. We just have to wait and see.”
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