January's cold-weather snap, which caused water temperatures in Louisiana to drop to 30 degrees, negatively impacting the state's crawfish harvest. But it hasn't been any more damaging than previous winters, and it will cause just a temporary supply hiccup.
"This happens every winter," said Mark Shirely, an aquaculture and coastal resources agent with the Louisiana State University AgCenter. "The cold weather we had two weeks ago is really no different then what we've had in the past years. It was nothing that wiped out crops or anything."
Cold weather does not kill crawfish unless ponds freeze solid, explained Shirley. The drop in temperatures simply affected crawfish mobility. The colder the weather, the less the crawfish move and feed, so the less they go into traps.
"The bottom line is that we did not lose any crawfish directly from the cold weather," he said. "Now this week the temperature of the water is slowly rising, so we're seeing a little more activity."
But crawfish are still in ponds and will be harvested in the next few months as the weather warms up. Actually, temperature fluctuation helps, as the change induces molting, producing larger crawfish.
Supplies will continue to be minimal as the cold weather persists through the rest of January and into February, which is typical. About one-third of Louisiana's crawfish supply is harvested from November through February. The remaining two-thirds is harvested in March, April and May.
January 24, 2010
