In New Orleans, the crawfish is considered a vital part of Louisiana's culture, much like Voodoo.
When it comes to healthful eating, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as the sweet, delicate taste of the crawfish.
Crawfish boil, crawfish pie, crawfish étouffée, crawfish gumbo, crawfish sausage—all these and more can be made with the Louisiana state crustacean.
However, until recently, crayfish were considered a dish only fit for poor bayou-dwelling Black Americans and a few brave souls who dared to go slumming with Cajuns.
Indeed, the fine people of New Orleans would have turned up their noses at a diner who dared serve “mudbugs” on its menu.
However, attitudes changed after the Great Depression when improved transportation and cold storage allowed crayfish harvests to reach the markets of New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
Once they got a taste of fresh crawfish, the city dwellers knew what they had been missing.
Demand grew as crawfish became a delicacy among city dwellers, and Cajun fishermen worked hard to meet the supply of the people.
Rice farmers flooded their paddies after harvest to produce crayfish for harvest during the colder months. This practice of crawfish farming eventually spread to closed-in woodlands and marshland as well.
Crayfish farming allowed a more consistent supply, as wild harvests varied widely, with years of abundant crayfish separated by years when the crustacean was challenging to come by. As crayfish became more readily available, demand grew even more!
By 1960, the amount of land devoted to crayfish farms had boosted to over 10,000 acres of managed ponds. At this point, an industry based on peeling crawfish had been developed, and the new markets for crawfish meat allowed crayfish harvests to maximize.
Today more than 1,600 Louisiana farmers produce crawfish in approximately 120,000 acres of ponds, with over 800 commercial fishers harvesting crayfish from natural wetlands. Their combined annual yield ranges from 75 million to 105 million pounds—over 90 percent of the domestic crop! More than 7,000 people depend directly or indirectly on the crawfish industry, and it is estimated to add over $120 million each year to Louisiana’s economy.
However, our industry faced some threats. By 1997, over 80% of the frozen crayfish sold in America came from private farms in Jiangsu Province, China.
Louisiana’s crawfish industry took the case to Washington, where Senator John Breaux argued,
“Crawfish to Louisiana is like cars in Detroit—it’s critical to our economy and our culture, and we must do whatever is necessary to preserve the industry.”
Tariffs of 97% to 202% were placed on Chinese imports of Crayfish after the International Trade Commission discovered that “to upset the crawfish industry would not only put thousands of Louisianans out of work, but it would destroy its way of life and culture.”
Today, Louisiana's crawfish business continues to struggle to recover from the destruction wrought to the swamplands and farms after Hurricane Katrina.
The big winds sent waves and waves of seawater into the region, devastating the small freshwater crawfish populations as a whole. However, though times remain tough, Louisiana’s cray-fishers are undeterred.
According to the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board director, Ewell Smith; “If there’s any industry that’ll come back, it’s the seafood industry. We’ve been down before. Katrina was the biggest blow we’ve ever faced, but we’ll be back.”
Unfortunately, more recent issues related to climate change have begun to take its toll on much of the crawfish population, both domestic and wild alike.
Questions
- What is your take on the significance of crawfish in New Orleans history and culture?
- How did the crayfish industry add to the culture of Lousiana in your view?
- How might the culture of New Orleans change if the crawfish was to someday disappear from Louisiana?
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