Did the Recent Rains Help the Louisiana Crawfish Season?

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North Louisiana has seen over nine inches of rain over the past several days, and more is expected into Friday night.  But despite the deluge Louisiana has received, it won't be enough to be able to salvage this year's crawfish season.

Crawfish expert Mark Shirley, from the LSU AgCenter said, unfortunately, we won't see any substantial benefit from the recent rains. Shirley said the rains will help to flush the ponds, but won't increase the 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.”

This season is predicted to be "dismal" due to the historic drought of 2023.  Even with the recent rains, 80 percent of Louisiana is still experiencing some level of drought, according to the US Drought monitor.

It has been so bad so far this year that some Louisiana crawfish farmers had a less-than-average harvest, while some farmers produced zero crawfish.  This has led to prices skyrocketing for those who are still purchasing crawfish.

“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.”

Typically, Louisiana farmers 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.”