As Louisiana’s seafood industry rebuilds after previous hurricanes, a lack of rain and low Mississippi River water levels may impact the seafood industry, according to Director for Louisiana Sea Grant Julie Lively.
Lively works with commercial fishing species such as shrimp and blue crabs by developing value-added shrimp products to increase profit for Louisiana shrimpers. She said Louisiana has the second-largest commercial fisheries in the United States.
“Only Alaska lands more seafood,” Lively said. “Seafood is vital to Louisiana’s economy and culture.”
According to the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board website, one in every 70 jobs in Louisiana is attributed to commercial fisheries.
The United States hauls around 3.6 billion pounds of seafood on average, while more than 1 million total pounds come from Louisiana each year, according to the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board’s website.
Lively said that Louisiana’s seafood industry has taken major hits to infrastructure, such as fishing boats and fishing docks, in the last few years. While Louisiana’s seafood industry is still recovering from the damage from Hurricane Ida, Lively said that the lack of hurricanes during 2022 is good news for Louisiana’s seafood industry.
“Most of our coast is still recovering from Laura, Delta, Zeta and Ida,” Lively said. “This year has given the industry a chance to start rebuilding without disrupting evacuations and hurricane preparations.”
Consequently, the lack of rain in 2022 created a drought within lakes and rivers which Lively said could impact fishery populations such as shrimp and crawfish.
Rex Caffey, a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, said that 2022 has been a dry year for rain nationwide, especially on the Mississippi River. Lower levels of water that flow into the Mississippi River can disrupt living conditions for crawfish.
Crawfish, a Louisiana staple, is always in demand. Louisiana has more than 1,000 crawfish farmers and more than 800 commercial fishermen who catch wild crawfish, according to the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. The 110 million pounds of crawfish harvested each year have an annual economic impact of $120 million.
Caffey said that estuaries, where freshwater and saltwater meet, are where fishing is most productive. Freshwater from rain and rivers drains into the Mississippi River and mixes with the Gulf of Mexico’s salt water. Even though estuaries such as the Atchafalaya Basin receive saltwater from the Gulf Coast, a drought in the Mississippi River can cause a saltwater imbalance, causing fewer nutrients for crustaceans such as crawfish.
“This [imbalance] can negatively affect the catching of crawfish in the coming year,” Caffey said.
Lively said crawfish are still nested down in burrows and will need more freshwater to rise out. If Louisiana returns to more normal rain amounts before the winter and spring seasons, Lively said that the future crawfish season should produce appropriate amounts.
Louisiana’s shrimp industry accounts for 15,000 jobs and an annual impact of $1.3 billion for Louisiana, according to the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board website.
Since shrimp growth depends on water temperature and salinity, Lively said that low river levels could reduce water levels in shrimp’s nursery areas. She said that excess saltwater slows growth.
Lively also said that the lack of seafood commerce also impacts businesses that produce fishing gear.
Many of Louisiana’s coastal communities rely on commercial fishing either directly or indirectly with seafood processing, gear and vessel manufacturing and maintenance and the many other industries that support the commercial fishing industry, Lively said.
Lively believes that the lack of precipitation from hurricanes will not be the resulting factor of less seafood catching and production.
“The drought might impact fishery populations, but not the lack of hurricanes,” Lively said.