Crawfish culture: A Louisiana aquaculture success story.

Abstract

Development and growth of commercially viable aquaculture industries in the United States have been slow and precarious. While the catfish industry, North Americaʼs flagship aquaculture industry, is a model of success, other aquaculture industries and many individual operations have failed or are struggling. One smaller industry that has remained viable and resilient, even under some considerable constraints as of late, is the crawfish aquaculture industry in the southern United States. This industry is located predominately in Louisiana where total annual yields during the last decade ranged from 10,000 to 27,000 tons. Crawfish aquaculture in this region is based on the production of animals for the table, though a few are also sold as fish bait. Currently, Louisianaʼs 1,100 crawfish farmers cultivate crawfish on about 43,000 ha (LCES 2002). It is estimated that fewer than 3,000 ha are devoted to crawfish production in the United States outside of Louisiana, though other areas may be suited for production. Success of the crawfish culture industry in Louisiana can be attributed to several factors. Established markets and infrastructure were in place from the beginning due to the large commercial fishery based, in part, on the stateʼs large segment of French ancestral population with a heritage for consuming crawfish. The non-technical nature of crawfish farming practices and, subsequently, its integration with other farming operations, most notably rice culture, aided in its economic success.