Superman may have X-ray vision, and Spiderman can crawl up a wall. But Stephen Minvielle, director of the Louisiana Crawfish Farmers Association, is only human – and he doesn’t have the superpower to know exactly what this season’s crawfish harvest will yield. “You got to understand when you’re looking at rice or you’re looking at cane, you have something to see,” Minvielle said. “When crawfish come out – of if they come out – they’re in the water. So unless we have a little divine intervention here to give me some super powers, looking into the water or six feet in the ground [of a crawfish burrow] is an impossibility.” And his humanly prediction based on statistical analysis of previous crawfish seasons under similar conditions isn’t what most Louisianians want to hear. “I would guess the season to be short this year,” Minvielle said. “We’re looking at a lesser amount of an average year of production. Overall, I would probably say worst case scenario, you’re 60 percent down from an average year. At the least, you can bet on 30 percent [less production of crawfish].” Minvielle said the lack of potential for this year’s crop means fewer crawfish will be available at a higher price. He said low amounts of rainfall have affected the crop, and the rising cost of diesel – used to fuel irrigation pumps – is preventing farmers from filling their ponds with necessary amounts of water. “The longer we go without rain, those costs keep on rising,” Minvielle said. Minvielle owns Bayouland Farms in New Iberia, and his 70 acres of ponds take nearly 29 billion gallons of water to fill. He said the mostly sunny and low-wind weather conditions this fall have caused an evaporation rate of half an inch of water each day from his ponds – equating to $200 to $300 of pumping cost daily to refill the ponds.
Robert Romaire, aquaculture professor, said crawfish ponds are usually dry in the summer months when the crawfish reproduce. He said water is needed for the aquatic animals to live, much like a fish. By September and October, the crawfish eggs begin to hatch and cue the farmers to fill their ponds.
“Some of the tributaries we pump out of are bone dry,” said Judy Matt, co-owner of Cane River Island Farms in Cloutierville. “So we can’t pump water even if we wanted to. We have ponds that aren’t even flooded right now.”
Matt said the rising cost of fuel has not affected her production rates because she does not have any water to pump.
“If we don’t get water soon, it’s going to be detrimental,” Matt said. “It will be a very short production.”
Romaire, who conducts studies at the aquaculture research station off Ben Hurr Road near River Road, said the delay in filling ponds will cause the crawfish season to start slightly later than normal. He said he uses the aquaculture research station’s 24 acres and six ponds as an indicator of what the season holds in store. He said good summer rains provide hope for this year’s crop.
“The season is right on the verge of getting ready to begin,” Romaire said. “But it really is a little bit too early to give an accurate projection on Louisiana’s crawfish crop. We’re still very optimistic that we will have a good crawfish crop and crawfish will be readily available for consumers.”
Minvielle said the southern areas of the state – Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary parishes – should have average productions because of good rain conditions during the summer. But the western areas of the state, where there has been a severe lack of rain during the past 50 days, will be down 25 to 30 percent of their normal production, he said.
“This year, we are way behind,” Minvielle said. “We’ve got less than 5 percent of the normal harvesters in my area – which are usually on the early side – that are actively harvesting crawfish right now.”
Minvielle said this year is a disappointment compared to the past year, when an over-abundant crop was available. He said nine to 15 inches of rain in the northern portions of the state provided ample crawfish that season.
Mike Anderson, owner of Mike Anderson’s Seafood, said it is still a bit too early to predict this year’s crop. He said he still has optimistic hopes for this season.
“If the prices get too high, people can’t afford to eat them,” Anderson said. “And that’s what people in Louisiana love to do – eat crawfish.”
Anderson said a rise in the price of crawfish can increase the cost of meals prepared with crawfish at his restaurant by $2 to $5. He said if the cost increases too much, they often replace the crawfish in dishes with shrimp, which stays more consistently priced.
Minvielle said crawfish are harvested as early as the beginning of November, and the season ends as late as the first weeks of June, when the water temperatures rise to 78 degrees. “They’re smarter than us,” Minvielle said. “They get out of the hot weather and go six feet under ground [where it’s cool].”
Vernon Pfister, Aquaculture Research Station research associate, said crawfish big enough to harvest at this time of year are about half “hold overs” – crawfish that grew and survived from this past season – and half “young of the year,” the baby crawfish that were born this season. He said by the season’s peak, more than 90 percent of the crawfish harvest will be composed of “young of the year.”
“If you have good populations of crawfish, you never theoretically have to restock the crawfish,” Pfister said. “They keep reproducing year after year after year.”
Pfister said his department is researching the best traps to catch crawfish. He said many farmers are switching from traditional pyramid traps made of poultry wire to traps made of a firmer metal allowing them to last 10 to 15 years. He said they are studying the old poultry wire traps compared to two new traps – one with seven-eighths square-inch holes, the other with three-fourths square-inch holes. He said the different sized holes allow smaller or larger sized crawfish to be caught.
“We try to get the information right to the farmers,” Pfister said. “Anything that needs to be done to help the farmers, we’ll try to get done.”
Pfister said past studies have determined 18- to 24-inch deep ponds are best for crawfish growth. He said deeper ponds require taller traps, which are more expensive and harder to empty.
He said their studies also showed using trash-fish bait, such as buffalo and carp, is best in the winter. When the water temperatures reach 65 to 68 degrees, farmers should use manufactured baits. Pfister said the Aquaculture Research Center’s studies have even determined the appropriate amount of bait to use during different times of the season.
“When it warms up, the crawfish will eat just about anything,” Pfister said. “And the manufactured bait is cheaper per pound than buying the fish.”
Jay Stander, Aquaculture Research Station outdoor facility manager, said traps are emptied one to two days after being baited. He said they bait and empty their traps once a week during the winter, but they will increase the frequency to three times per week during the spring. Stander said the Aquaculture Research Station has six ponds, and emptying the traps can take up to an hour per pond.
Pfister said crawfish ponds are often put in farmers’ land where other crops such as sugarcane cannot grow. He said rice is planted throughout the ponds to provide food for the crawfish. He said rice is the best crop to plant because it is semi-aquatic.
Pfister said farmers in the rice area – Crowley, Eunice and the southwestern portions of the state – will plant and harvest the rice before flooding the field as a crawfish pond.
Pfister said their ponds are irrigated by an electric, deep-water well. He said even though they do not use diesel, they have still felt the effects of rising prices as electricity costs also rise.
Pfister said different sized crawfish are considered different grades and sold at varying prices, the bigger ones being more expensive. He said even though the crawfish are smaller this time of the year, he can still sell them for as much as $2.50 per pound.
“At this time of year, buyers will take anything,” Pfister said. “You want to be catching now and into December because the price is always high when it starts because very few farmers are fishing.”
Kevin Ortego, owner of Louisiana Lagniappe Restaurant, said he serves only Louisiana crawfish but does not start until around Christmas. He said crawfish can cost as much as $3 per pound at the season’s start.
“When crawfish are the most expensive, the quality is actually the worst,” Ortego said. “When they’re plentiful, the price is cheap and they’re nicer.”
Michael Cashio, Heads and Tails Seafood owner, said crawfish prices in November can be as high as $3 per pound but expects the cost to drop to about $1.89 per pound as the season progresses.
—-Contact Nicholas Persac at [email protected]