Drought pinched Louisiana’s crawfish harvest, but mudbug fans are weathering the shortage

By SARA CLINE
Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana crawfish are in demand despite a shortage of the mudbugs driven by last summer’s drought, extreme heat, saltwater intrusion on the Mississippi River and a hard winter freeze. The state is the nation’s top producer of crawfish, but last year harvested a fraction of what is typical in a season. Potential losses to the state’s crawfish industry are estimated to be nearly $140 million. The tiny crustaceans are a staple in Gulf Coast seafood boils and Louisiana’s way of life, and fans are still buying and selling them, including at a crawfish festival in southern Louisiana that was noticeably more expensive this week.