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Started By
Message
How will flooding affect crawfish season?
Posted on 8/25/16 at 3:05 pm
Posted on 8/25/16 at 3:05 pm
ohfercryinoutloud
quote:
The impact of the recent widespread flooding on the upcoming season will depend on many factors according to LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant aquaculture and coastal resources specialist Mark Shirley.
“We really won’t know the extent of damage until we get into the harvest season later this winter,” said Shirley, in a recent newsletter to crawfish producers.
Greg Lutz, a professor and specialist at the LSU AgCenter Aquaculture Research Station, explained that crawfish typically spend their summers sealed in burrows along the pond levees, while crawfish farmers plant rice or other vegetation to serve as the basis for a natural food chain once the ponds are flooded again in the fall.
Female crawfish lay their eggs – which are carried under their tails– while sealed in their burrows.
Egg laying begins in late August, peaks in late September or early October and continues all the way until November or even early December, Lutz said.
“Normally, after a mama crawfish decides to lay her eggs, she waits until a good heavy rain before she comes up out of the burrow, and she’ll wait as long as it takes,” he explained. “On the other hand, when flood waters cover pond levees the ground is saturated and crawfish have no choice but to get out of their burrows.”
Flooding crawfish ponds in August is discouraged because crawfish are forced from the protection of their burrows to face hot, stagnant water and predation by fish, birds and other predators, Lutz said.
Few crawfish producers have the pumping capacity to maintain adequate oxygen levels under these conditions.
Surviving crawfish that have been forced out of their burrows will eventually try to go back down in the ground.
Ray McClain, a professor at the AgCenter Rice Research Station near Crowley, has shown that female crawfish can survive several episodes of being flushed from the ground by flooding and still go on to spawn in the fall if they can get back into a burrow.
Shirley added that “if the floodwater recedes within a few days, many of the females will be able to re-burrow or find an existing burrow to move into.”
What should a crawfish farmer do? Crawfish farmers can mitigate damage by draining ponds as soon as possible to eliminate predatory fish that entered with flood waters.
If rice was planted in the last month for crawfish forage, once fish have been eliminated growers should put a couple of inches of water back to help the rice grow and control some of the weeds.
In fields where rice was harvested, rice straw will be decomposing and water should be drained out as quickly as possible. The wet ground will help the stubble re-sprout, but producers are encouraged to wait until early October to flood up.
For ponds where rice could not be planted as a forage crop or ponds with natural vegetation, producers should still drain as soon as possible to get rid of fish. In general, these ponds will have serious water quality problems in the fall, so waiting until temperatures have cooled off in mid- or late October to flood is recommended.
“We shouldn’t assume that there is going to be a blanket net negative impact for the industry as a whole, McClain explained. “I really think there will be negative impacts for some producers, yet others probably will see little or no effect.”
The fact that there shouldn’t be any drought-linked impacts this year is probably going to offset some of the negatives from the flooding.
“Bottom line is – neither the farmers nor the consumers should give up on the upcoming crawfish season just yet,” said Lutz
Posted on 8/25/16 at 3:12 pm to austin2015
Water is too wet...price will go up
Posted on 8/25/16 at 3:24 pm to austin2015
All the cloud cover restricted lots of sunlight, that's going to raise prices
Posted on 8/25/16 at 3:26 pm to austin2015
Not as much water as expected. Should be a subpar season.
Posted on 8/25/16 at 3:56 pm to austin2015
It will only be adversely affected until Easter, after which the supply will magically increase.
Posted on 8/25/16 at 5:16 pm to austin2015
If the water stayed too long in rice fields, crawfish will come out and die because of heat. Biology braj.
This post was edited on 8/25/16 at 5:24 pm
Posted on 8/25/16 at 5:45 pm to BMoney
Price goes down after Easter because April is peak season and demand goes down after lent .
Instead of blaming the farmers for high $ maybe y'all should blame the restaurants who charge $5/pound no matter if the farm price is $1 or $2.50
Instead of blaming the farmers for high $ maybe y'all should blame the restaurants who charge $5/pound no matter if the farm price is $1 or $2.50
Posted on 8/25/16 at 9:35 pm to austin2015
Well, the silver lining, as far as crawfish go, is that the bulk of the flooding, not all, but the bulk, was in areas where not much crawfish farming takes place.
Posted on 8/25/16 at 10:42 pm to Midtiger farm
quote:
Instead of blaming the farmers for high $ maybe y'all should blame the restaurants who charge $5/pound no matter if the farm price is $1 or $2.50
the restaurants arent to blame for the high prices.
its texas and their demand for crawfish.
Posted on 8/25/16 at 10:57 pm to Fratigerguy
quote:
Well, the silver lining, as far as crawfish go, is that the bulk of the flooding, not all, but the bulk, was in areas where not much crawfish farming
lol
Like that matters
Prices will remain high because coonasses dont give a shite. They will pay whatever. Come spring people want crawfish. Simple as that.
Posted on 8/26/16 at 7:26 am to Fratigerguy
quote:
Well, the silver lining, as far as crawfish go, is that the bulk of the flooding, not all, but the bulk, was in areas where not much crawfish farming takes place.
Are you that much out of touch with reality? You think it only flooded in BR and Denham?
St. Martin, St. Landry, Evangeline, Acadia, Vermillion, and Jeff Davis parishes all caught 15-20in of rain. These are the parishes that pretty much produce all the crawfish. There are areas in these parishes where roads, and fields are still flooded from backwater.
Posted on 8/26/16 at 7:29 am to Deactived
quote:
the restaurants arent to blame for the high prices.
its texas and their demand for crawfish.
This is partially true, Texas demand keeps prices pretty high especially early in the season when supply is low.
But last year after Easter the farm price was $.75-$1.00 till the end of the season
Posted on 8/26/16 at 12:54 pm to austin2015
You know, I'm amazed that the crawfish as a species has survived, considering how every single event just decimates their numbers and drives prices up.
This post was edited on 8/26/16 at 12:55 pm
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