July 19, 2010

Crawfish provides hope to Louisiana's seafood industry

An Amercian researcher is looking at an alternative species of Louisiana crawfish that could help the seafood industry, devastated by the oil spill.

Louisiana State University Professor Greg Lutz has studied crawfish species and the industry for 30 years. "We are looking at trying to extend the crawfish season," he said. "We are looking at different methods of growing them and we are looking at an alternative species that may be available in a different time of the year."

At LSU's Aquaculture Research Station in Baton Rouge, in its ponds and tanks, Lutz is studying the native crawfish. When they are full grown, they can be up to ten centimetres long.

Lutz is also studying native plants that would be best suited as the shrimp crawfish's  main source of food. "All of these pools have different combinations of vegetation that we are evaluating and they all have baby shrimp crawfish," explained Greg Lutz.

He said if all goes right, in two or three years shrimp crawfish could become commercial. "So we have a native crawfish and native vegetation and hopefully we can augment the production season for crawfish producers," he said.

According to the USDA, the south-eastern US has the greatest diversity of crawfish in the world, with Louisiana at the top.