A wave of freezing temperatures sweeping across the United States has slowed crawfish harvesting in South Louisiana, creating short-term supply delays and higher market prices for the state’s $300 million industry.
Last January, a historic Arctic blast brought record snowfall and prolonged sub-freezing temperatures across South Louisiana, breaking decades-old weather records prompting the first blizzard warnings ever issued in parts of the state.
While this year’s freeze is less extreme, low temperatures still pose risks to the state’s crawfish industry.
Louisiana leads the nation in crawfish production with more than 1,000 commercial fishermen and 1,300 farmers supplying roughly 100 to 120 million pounds per year, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
The state’s crawfish industry ranks as the fourth species group by value in world aquaculture and even brief disruptions in harvest can ripple through local markets.
Production Slows in Cold Water
The recent freeze has left crawfish ponds quiet, with traps pulling in far fewer crustaceans. For farmers, that translates to lost time and money during the start of the season.
Being cold-blooded, crawfish stop feeding and molting when water temperatures drop making them harder to catch.
“They just shut down pretty much their entire metabolism until things warm up again. When it’s this cold they don’t move toward bait and you can’t catch them,” said Dr. Greg Lutz of the LSU Agricultural Center.
Farmers often run only a few “test traps” to check activity, rather than spending fuel and labor chasing minimal catches. Even after waters warm, crawfish may temporarily resist traps while molting, prolonging the slow start to the season and keeping supply tight.
“We can’t expect the farmers to go out there and try to run their traps because it’s going to cost them the same to run their traps whether they get one sack of crawfish or 25 sacks of crawfish,” Lutz said. “So, they’re just throwing away money if they try to harvest under these cold weather conditions.
A 30-pound sack of pond-raised crawfish, typically $80 to $100 this time of year, is expected to climb as fewer catches reach local markets.
Prolonged Cold Poses Greater Risk
While these brief freezes slow activity, experts say extended cold could have more serious consequences.
“If you would get two weeks straight of every day below freezing, yeah, that would be trouble,” said Dr. Christopher Bonvillain, a biology professor at Nicholls State University who studies crayfish ecology.
Farmers are not entirely helpless during these cold spells, but their options are limited.
Some growers attempt early flooding and extra oxygenation to give baby crawfish a head start. By flooding ponds ahead of the usual schedule and pumping oxygen into the water, farmers encourage earlier growth, helping young crawfish survive and reach a harvestable size sooner.
These measures, however, come with added costs for labor, electricity, water management; expenses that can total hundreds or even thousands of dollars per farm.
Many farmers choose to let “Mother Nature do her thing,” Dr. Lutz said, waiting for warmer water before harvesting. “A lot of these guys just take a back seat, and when it pays to harvest, they harvest,” he added.
If cold snaps persist, harvests could be smaller and delayed, tightening supply during the high-demand period leading up to Mardi Gras and the Super Bowl. For consumers, that could mean higher prices and limited availability in both regional and national markets.
National Implications
Extreme winter weather is becoming more prevalent in Louisiana and across the U.S.
Erratic cold fronts are increasingly affecting agriculture, disrupting planting, growth and harvest cycles.
In South Louisiana, repeated freezes threaten to shrink the short window farmers have to bring crawfish to the market, highlighting how national climate trends can have a direct impact on local economies and everyday consumers.
