(01/24/25) As south Louisiana begins to thaw out after the historic arctic blast, many are wondering how the cold weather will affect the 2025 crawfish season.
Freshwater crawfish of the genus Procambarus are a valuable aquaculture commodity in the southern United States, with annual production of 30 to 50 million pounds and farm-gatevalues of $25 to 50 million. Unlike fishes, crawfish are not harvested by seining. Instead, crawfish are harvested with a passive system that uses baited traps.
This article describes materials and techniques for the construction of pillow traps and pyramid traps used to harvest crawfish in Louisiana's commercial crawfish industry
This document is Chapter 8 in the Louisiana Crawfish Production Manual. The chapter discusses factors affecting crawfish catch and size of crawfish at harvest, trap types, baits, baiting strategies, trapping strategies and harvesting machinery.
Over the last several years, crawfish farmers have been switching to a slightly different crawfish trap – one constructed of ¾-inch square mesh wire in lieu of those made from ¾-inch hexagonal (6-sided) mesh. The square mesh traps are more durable and produce larger catches.
The LSU AgCenter and the LSU College of Agriculture