U.S. federal lawmakers from the state of Louisiana have introduced a bill that would make wild-caught crawfish eligible for the Department of Commerce's fishery disaster relief program.
“Louisiana’s crawfish harvesters are a vital part of our state’s economy and heritage. This legislation not only recognizes that legacy, but it also ensures that when future disasters hit, they won’t be left behind. Including wild-caught crawfish under the Magnuson-Stevens Act is a simple yet practical way to give this industry the federal support it deserves,” U.S. Representative Cleo Fields (D-Louisiana) said in a statement.
Over the past few years, crawfish harvesters in the Southern United States have suffered from drought conditions and an untimely freeze, creating shortages and leading to higher prices. The Louisiana State University’s Agriculture Center calculated losses to the crawfish industry of nearly USD 140 million (EUR 130 million) in 2023 alone.
The crisis led the state governor to declare a disaster, and the federal government has worked to support the struggling sector.
In 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) changed the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybee, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP) to make commercial crawfish businesses eligible for relief, and the Small Business Administration made low-interest federal disaster loans available to Louisiana crawfish businesses.
However, the crawfish industry is not eligible for federal fishery disaster support, something Louisiana lawmakers want to change via the Fisheries Modernization Act.
“The 2023 drought led to heavy losses across the entire crawfish industry, and while we secured disaster relief through USDA and the Small Business Administration, there was no equivalent program for wild-caught crawfishermen under the Commerce Department,” U.S. Representative Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) said in a statement. “Our bill would add crawfish species in the Atchafalaya Basin to the Magnuson-Stevens Act to ensure those fisheries are eligible in future disasters. This is an important step to bring parity across the entire industry.”
The Fisheries Modernization Act would ensure both red swamp crawfish and white river crawfish are eligible for fisheries disaster financial relief for both natural and man-made disasters as well as significant decreases in fish stock or revenue.
