By V. Todd Miller | LSU AgCenter

As south Louisiana begins to thaw out after the historic arctic blast and double-digit inches of snowfall in many crawfish-producing parishes, many are wondering if there will be a repeat of 2024 that saw small harvests and high prices due to the previous year’s drought. LSU AgCenter researchers are cautiously optimistic that there is barely a snowball’s chance in Acadiana of that happening.

AgCenter crawfish agent Todd Fontenot said that due to the physiology of the crustaceans, there may be a short dip in production. But as temperatures begin to return to normal for this time of year, harvesters, restaurants and home boilers should witness a quick rebound.

“We don’t foresee it being more than a temporary slowdown,” he said. “Since crawfish are cold blooded, their bodies slow down and they burrow as low as they can get in the mud and vegetation and stay there to protect themselves from the elements and predators because they are most vulnerable at that stage.”

When crawfish are facing these conditions, they’re not foraging and eating, so it does tend to set production back a bit as long as the weather remains frigid, Fontenot said.

During longer, sustained periods of freezing, production could be adversely affected. But the deeper the water in the pond, the more insulated the crawfish are when burrowing down, Fontenot said.

While Fontenot said there was some ice on his pond north of Eunice, it wasn’t significant, with the deeper water measuring above freezing at 36 degrees near the bottom.

Fontenot expects the mudbugs to start looking for food again and production to ramp up shortly thereafter.

“I think we’re going to rebound faster than previous years where it might have stayed in the 40s the week following a hard freeze,” he said. “With the positive upcoming forecast, I think it will take about a week, so folks should feel optimistic about getting their crawfish for the Super Bowl.”

When it comes to one of crawfish farmers’ biggest enemies — the invasive apple snail species, which disrupts harvest season — Louisiana is in a bit of uncharted territory.

“The cold tolerance of apple snails hasn’t been thoroughly studied,” said AgCenter entomologist Blake Wilson. “Through much of the winter, the snails stay dormant beneath the soil surface in flooded ponds. So they are generally insulated from the coldest temperatures.”

Wilson expects the snail eggs to have been killed, as they are above the water surface with no protection from the cold. But he does not anticipate the weather having a significant effect on populations next spring because egg numbers are low during the winter months anyway.

“Having said all that, these are the coldest temperatures invasive snail populations would have experienced since becoming widely distributed in the state,” Wilson said. “They haven’t been successful establishing much further north, presumably because they are unable to survive colder winters, so there is a chance it will have a more pronounced effect than I think. Time will tell.”