Price of pinching tails, sucking heads is up this season

Crawfish eaters will probably have to pay higher prices this crawfish season to satisfy their appetites for the tasty crustacean.

The season runs from November to May or June.

The rising cost of the diesel used by crawfish farmers to pump fresh water into their ponds will almost ensure a substantial increase in the price consumers pay.

Smaller-than-normal rainfall amounts during the summer will also serve to boost the price. Less rain meant crawfish ponds received lower levels of no-cost fresh water.

Diesel went for $2 a gallon last year. This fall, the price is $3.

“This summer wasn’t a drought, but there wasn’t a lot of rain,” said Mark Shirley, LSU AgCenter aquaculture specialist. “Farmers had significant costs to flood their fields.”

The AgCenter is still calculating probable crawfish prices, but one crawfish producer predicted the charge for consumers would be at least $40 for a medium-sized sack.

Farmers need to charge $25 a sack to break even, according to the Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association.

Prices are higher now than they will be in the spring. Ponds are more productive later in the season.

“It’s because of the colder water,” Shirley said. “One-third of the crop is harvested in winter. The harvest is slow now. In spring, they may catch two pounds or more a trap.”

Shirley said the price for mudbugs should vary daily, more or less, depending on the weather and consumer demand.

“If it’s real cold in winter, the crawfish don’t move,” he said. “Also, people eat more crawfish in restaurants on Friday and Saturday. More crawfish are sold in the first week of the month because people get paid on the first of the month.”

South Louisianans will boil crawfish on their patios during mild and sunny weekend days, but rainy weekend weather will reduce demand, he said.

Up to 40 percent of wild crawfish are caught in the Atchafalaya Basin. Capture rates depend on the amount of rainfall and the resulting water levels.

Local seafood processors are expressing concern about the price of diesel’s impact on crawfish fishermen.

“It will hit the guy on the boat the hardest,” said Brad Voisin with Motivatit Seafood in Houma. “Because of the fuel, you can’t go down on prices even though demand may be lower. It’s a lose/lose, but we’re not in a crisis.”

A spokesperson for Copeland’s of New Orleans restaurant in Houma said she had not seen a rise in the peeled crawfish prices the restaurant buys for use in its crawfish etouffee dishes.

Higher fuel prices and cooler temperatures will keep the price of crawfish high this winter. The LSU AgCenter’s Mark Shirley, an aquaculture specialist, said prices for a medium-sized sack will be at least $40. * File photo