Louisiana Facing Devastating 2024 & 2025 Crawfish Seasons

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You've probably already heard about how this year's crawfish season is going to be rough, but you might not realize just how bad it's going to be.  Prices are going to be unusually high because supply will be almost non-existant because of the severe drought of 2023.

And now LSU Agent Crawfish Specialist Mark Shirley warns the outlook for next year isn’t promising either.

“The farmers are not going to have that source of stock to produce crawfish for next year.”

Shirley says the fields that don’t have crawfish this year will have to be restocked and with limited availability.  So not only will this year be bad, but it also creates issues for the 2025 crop.

Shirley says the only possible source for wild crawfish in May and June will be from the Atchafalaya Basin crop. And unfortunately, the current water level in the Basin is extremely low at one to two feet.

“That’s not enough water for the crawfish fisherman in the Basin to get out there and catch crawfish now during the winter.”

Any chance to increase the number of crawfish in the Atchafalaya Basin, Shirley says depends on snowmelt from the north flowing down the Mississippi River and…

“It’s going to take a lot of rain all up and down the Mississippi River water shed to flood the Basin and if that does happen those fisherman will be able to get some crawfish out of the Basin.”