. Commercial fisheries review. Fisheries; Fish trade. 14 THE CRAWFISH INDUSTRY A report by BCF's Biological Laboratory, Galveston, Texas, indicates that most of the crawfish production is in Louisiana. In recent years, annual production in Louisiana has fluctuated from 200,000 to 10,000,000 pounds. The resource is valued at $4 million annually. Crawfish are harvested from na- tural waters, rice fields, and impoundments. Outside Louisiana, a large species is har- vested in Oregon and shipped to west coast cities as "short lobsters"; only $7,000 worth are sold annually. 24 to 36 i
. Commercial fisheries review. Fisheries; Fish trade. 14 THE CRAWFISH INDUSTRY A report by BCF's Biological Laboratory, Galveston, Texas, indicates that most of the crawfish production is in Louisiana. In recent years, annual production in Louisiana has fluctuated from 200,000 to 10,000,000 pounds. The resource is valued at $4 million annually. Crawfish are harvested from na- tural waters, rice fields, and impoundments. Outside Louisiana, a large species is har- vested in Oregon and shipped to west coast cities as "short lobsters"; only $7,000 worth are sold annually. 24 to 36 inches deep in dry areas. H fields are still flooded, they burrow in levees, high spots in fields, or migrate to adjacent fields. Egg laying begins about September 1. Female fertilizes eggs from sperm receptacle placed in May. Eggs are deposited in balls on swim- ming legs. Red swamp crawfish produce up to 700 young in 14-21 days. White river craw- fish produce 200-400 young in 18 to 29 days. While September and October appear to be the peak hatching time, adults have been observed with young every month of the If water is available, crawfish will come out of their holes about October 1 to rear and scatter their young. The minimum size for edible crawfish is 15 to 20 grams. It takes about 210 days for late-summer or fall- hatched crawfish to reach this size. Crawfish feed best at temperatures of 65° to 80° P.; little feeding occurs below 45° or above 90° F. Crawfish will eat animal mat- ter in small amounts--in the form of insect larvae, they are not active preda- tors; dead and living vegetation makes up the bulk of their diet. They are cannibalistic: females will eat a portion of their brood when confined in small areas without food. In Louisiana, the bulk of wild crawfish come from Atchafalaya Basin, where more than 2 million pounds may be harvested in a good year. Most crawfish are caught in chicken wire crawfish cages. It is not unusual for trappers to
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