LAFAYETTE, La.— It is officially crawfish season, and that means KATC CRAWDAQ is back!
KATC's CRAWDAQ Index shows the rise and fall of crawfish prices in Lafayette Parish throughout the season, but this year, I'm telling the story behind those numbers in every parish in Acadiana.
This week, we're starting with Lafayette Parish.
As we are all well too aware of, crawfish prices are much higher this year than in years past. In fact, we are looking at a 54% increase in price from this time (mid-February) last year.
To see a list of this week's prices at some of your favorite crawfish spots throughout the parish, click here.
And though some of you may be fully up-to-date on the situation, others may be wondering why this is, so I spoke with some local crawfish sellers to hear what they say the issue is.
"We're just running late because the drought was so bad. We didn't get any significant rainfall until Dec. 1," said Brant Lamm, owner of Crawfish Time on Moss Street and Ridge Road. "We got a good rain, and the mamas came out with babies, but we're two months running behind, and it just compounded the problem with Lent being early."
Drought. Late season. Early Lent. But issues within the crawfish industry affect so many more people than just those of us itching to get our hands on some boiled bugs.
"I can't employ my workers, you know," said Andre Leger, owner of Chez Francois Seafood. "We don't have the crawfish. Normally—normally, we're processing crawfish, we're selling crawfish. Crawfish is 50% of our business."
While Leger suffers the effects of the shortage, he acknowledges that it goes even further beyond his business.
"It's a trickle down effect," he said. "The grocery stores are going to lose revenue. Anybody that works for any of these companies are going to lose income, so it's a snowball effect."
According to Leger, this effect isn't even restricted to crawfish.
"The crab meat is affected. The shrimp is affected. The crawfish is affected," he said.
With all this said, it's pretty obvious that the crawfish industry is in a pinch right now.
"Sales are definitely down," Lamm said. "We're selling about half of what we do on a normal year, but it's because the prices are high because there's not a supply like normal."
But there may be a light at the bottom of the crawfish hole.
"The catch has picked up a lot in the last two weeks. It's a lot more encouraging now than it was," Lamm said. "Things are looking a lot better, and I'm optimistic for the rest of Lent."
Check back in every Thursday night for your CRAWDAQ Index update.
