http://droughtreporter.unl.edu/

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The 2024 crawfish harvest in Louisiana has been down 50% to 90% across the state after heat, drought and a January freeze killed many of the mudbugs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved emergency financial relief for crawfish farmers and fishermen. Some producers didn’t have enough water to flood their fields, or the water was too salty to use. Next year’s crawfish harvest will also be affected by the hardships of this year. The Ag center estimated the potential losses to be about $140 million to the state's $230 million a year crawfish industry. The crawfish add $500 million to Louisiana's economy and employ about 7,000 people. FOX Weather (New York), May 22, 2024 Average crawfish production in Louisiana has been about 10% of normal, according to the southwest area agent for Louisiana State University Extension, who spoke with many farmers and buyers. That figure includes the ponds where no crawfish were caught to ponds with a harvest of 20% to 25% of normal. Even in Southwest Louisiana, the heart of the crawfish producing area, the average was only 10% to 15% of normal. In a normal year, Louisiana has about 374,000 acres on which crawfish are farmed. Roughly 50,000 acres were not able to be flooded for lack of water in canals and saltwater intrusion into the coastal parishes. On top of that, another 50,000 to 80,000 acres were not yielding enough crawfish to make it worth the cost of trying to catch them. Crawfish prices typically decrease in the spring as catches increase in size, but this year, crawfish availability has not increased. Crawfish sales prices have simply followed the usual trend. Farm Progress (St. Charles, Ill.), March 22, 2024