By: Wesley Higgins
Crawfish are making their way back into the boilers after a long harsh winter delayed the start of the crawfish season.
Crawfish farmers expect Super Bowl weekend to be the kick starter to a healthy season for the freshwater crustacean, but after consistently low temperatures and rare snowfall, farmers are struggling to keep up with the season’s demands.
Duane Smith, Louisiana crawfish farmer,  has been farming crawfish for more than 30 years and expressed his worries about the slow start to the season.
“Right now, our number one concern is mother nature,” Smith said. “All of the cold weather we have had has really slowed down how much we’ve been able to farm. We are really struggling to keep up the crawfish demand.”
Smith said that as the weather heats up and the sun comes out, farmers will begin to meet the seasons demands.
“Weather is just something we have to deal with, and if I had the solution, I’d sell it,” Smith said.
According to Paeton Landry, east Texas crawfish farmer and owner of Big Daddy’s Crawfish LLC, crawfish stay under ground during the colder months. When temperatures begin to rise, the crawfish start to molt, or start to reach maturity by shedding their exoskeleton repeatedly.
“Every year is different, but right now what’s different this year is the winter,” Landry said. “When temperatures are low, we don’t see the crawfish. They’re there, but under the ground in a hibernation. Even when they begin to molt, we need the sun to come out and harden their shells.”
The scarcity of crawfish has driven up market prices as farmers struggle with demand.
“Right now the catch has been really low, and the price is high because of the such a high demand,” Landry said.
Devalyn Duke, Arkansas crawfish farmer and restaurant owner, has also been battling a slow season and high prices.
“We will probably have to start our season a bit later in April and go through the end of June,” Duke said.
According to Duke, although crawfish supply may be low and difficult to meet demands, farmers are still able to profit off of the rice fields they use to farm crawfish. Unfertilized rice fields provide a wet and muddy environment suited for housing plenty of burrowing crawfish.
“They’ll have their rice in the off season,” Duke said. “Farmers work them as rotation crops so there is a year long return.”
Crawfish farmers are still optimistic about the rest of their season. Smith expects temperatures to rise in time for the upcoming holidays.
“The beginning of Lent and upcoming Spring holidays are a time that in Louisiana we ‘on vi’ for crawfish,” Smith said.