Crawfish season started early but is now fighting impacts from recent cold weather
By Lee Southwick
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NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (WDSU) — Louisiana saw an early start to crawfish season thanks to a warm start to winter, but the cold temperatures we’ve been experiencing recently are impacting the season.
According to LSU’s Agricultural Center, above-average temperatures in November and December helped Louisiana’s crawfish season grow early and fast. These weather conditions led to many crawfish reaching market size in late December and early January.
“When the water temperature is jumping between 60 and 70 degrees, that’s optimum for crawfish growth,” said Mark Shirley, an aquaculture agent for the LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant.
Shirley also expects a good season thanks to the rainy weather we experienced through early September when many crawfish were in their late-summer burrows with their young. Wet conditions help both adult and young crawfish survive until their ponds are flooded in September and October, according to Shirley.
However, the unusually cold weather we’re having this January is also affecting supply, said Chris “Shaggy” Davis, owner of NOLA Crawfish King Seafood & Barbecue.
“The cold weather is putting a little damper on the availability,” Davis said. “We’re seeing changes in the size of crawfish and the price of crawfish.”
Despite the recent drop in temperatures, NOLA Crawfish King Seafood & Barbecue has been serving crawfish 7 days a week for about a month already.
“We’re just lucky to have them this time of year,” Davis said.
In addition to the changing temperatures, the LSU AgCenter is closely watching the deadly white spot virus that has been affecting the crawfish industry.
Shirley says the virus is only a threat to crustaceans.
“The virus might be present or not present in a sack of crawfish you may boil this weekend,” Shirley said. “It’s not a concern for people. So go ahead and enjoy the crawfish. It doesn’t affect the taste. It doesn’t affect anything else.”
Shirley said one of the telltale signs a pond has been affected is that larger crawfish will die and be found floating on the water. Another sign is the catch will go down significantly in a matter of two or three days.
“We don’t know the transmission vectors at this point — whether it’s birds, whether it’s insects or something in the water,” Shirley said. “We haven’t identified how it gets into a pond.”
Louisiana is expected to have nearly 260,000 acres of crawfish ponds across the state producing nearly 150 million pounds of crawfish.
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