Crawfish shortage has producers concerned
With Lent quickly approaching in heavily-Catholic Cajun country, a mainstay of the traditional 40-day diet may be difficult to find: crawfish.
Production of pond crawfish so far this year is about half of what it was a year ago.
“I’ve been in the business for 20 years. This is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said Scott Broussard, a producer and processor in Crowley.
The lack of crawfish in Acadiana ponds means a lack of crawfish in boiling pots and restaurant tables.
Dwight Breaux of Dwight’s restaurant on Johnston Street in Lafayette was forced to shut his doors last Friday and Saturday nights because he couldn’t get crawfish. It was the first time he ever closed two consecutive nights because crawfish were in short supply.
“Is there a crawfish season?” he asked. “I missed it if there’s one.”
Dwight’s has since reopened with a sign announcing the crawfish had returned.
Rain from Hurricane Gustav, saltwater from Hurricane Ike and a drought all contributed to create what is one of the worst beginnings of pond crawfish season in years.
Heavy rainfall from Gustav north of Iberia Parish, in St. Martin Parish and other areas east of Interstate 49, came at a critical time, as crawfish were emerging from hibernation, Stephen Minvielle, director of the Louisiana Crawfish Farmers Association said.
When they emerged, water was topping levees surrounding some ponds, which allowed the crawfish to escape.
“If you pour goldfish in a lake, are you ever going to get them back?” he asked.
Hurricane debris, such as leaves and grass, remained in some flooded ponds for weeks following Gustav, sucking up the oxygen in the water and choking crawfish, Mark Shirley with the LSU AgCenter, said.
In southwestern Louisiana, crawfish farmers were hit by a drought, Shirley said. Crawfish burrow into the soil to hibernate. A lack of rain causes the soil to dry up and the crawfish die.
In Vermilion and lower Iberia parishes, Ike’s storm surge sent salt water into as much as 4,000 acres of crawfish ponds. They’re recovering slowly, Shirley said. Some may have reduced production later this year, but some will not produce enough to sell.
The good news is, by March or April the young crawfish that are present in ponds today but are too small to catch should be large enough for harvesting, he said.
theadvertiser.com/article/20090213/NEWS01/
902130333/-1/NEWSFRONT2
February 13th, 2009 by Ragin Cajun /
No Comments »