Cameron Cuevas, a third-generation crawfish vendor, has never seen the mudbugs this rare.
According to Cuevas, the owner of Claw Daddy’s Crawfish in Gulfport, “by January 1, we’re pushing a lot of volume of crawfish,” the Sun Herald reported on Tuesday. “This season, we haven’t sold a single crawfish.”
According to Cuevas, sales data indicates that this is the season’s latest start in at least 16 years. He claimed that prices had more than tripled. The price of the few crawfish that are available, when boiled, is $12 to $15 a pound, as opposed to $3.89 at this time last year.
Typically, the season begins in November and reaches its peak in December.
Area agent for the southwest section of the state and crawfish industry watcher Mark Shirley of Louisiana State University AgCenter recently sent out a letter outlining the situation. Insiders in the industry and crawfish lovers worldwide have taken notice of his opinion.
SETBACKS RELATED TO WEATHER
In his open letter, Shirley said that many crawfish had been destroyed by the summer drought and heat that persisted into the fall. Not helping has been the recent frigid temperatures. He’s been searching ponds for mudbugs, but his dipping nets haven’t yielded many results.
In the letter, which was fully published by the Livingston (Louisiana) Parish News and was frequently cited on blogs and Facebook, he stated, “The ones I do see were likely released from their mother’s tail since the big rain event the region had on December 1, 2023.”
Their growth will be sluggish because to the chilly water in January, and they won’t reach harvest size until late March or early April. However, there isn’t a substantial population of these crawfish, even when they get large enough to be caught. The catch won’t be sustainable for the whole spring; it might increase briefly in April and May. There will be less crop in the spring than is typically caught.
Thus, there is not much good news regarding crawfish. Shirley adds that price increases are another issue for crawfish farmers. Prices will definitely double or worse, noticeable to consumers.
Shirley’s letter did not meet with much favor in the neighboring Bayou Country. “I guess his momma never told him if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” a Facebook user commented. I hope he is mistaken.
Cuevas is making an effort to stay upbeat. He hopes that people would come order some of the shrimp he has.
He remarked, “We’re still hoping and praying that we’re going to start here real soon.” “All we need is Mother Nature to work with us and a little mild weather. We’re hoping to still have a fantastic season.