Crawfish prices drop along Gulf Coast as harvest thrives

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - If you are a crawfish fan, this is the season to celebrate. Experts say the local harvest is shaping up to be bountiful this year ahead of carnival season.

“For some reason, it’s plentiful this year right now,” Desportes Seafood manager Frank Menna said. “Prices being like this right now, it’s gonna be a great year. We should sell a lot of crawfish, a lot.”

With Mardi Gras being their busiest time of year, about five separate suppliers are arriving daily with loads of fresh crawfish.

The store is selling about 150 sacks each week.

“Especially the last couple of years with COVID, people are starting to get out and do stuff more now together, so the prices are gonna make it a lot easier for people to get together,” Menna said. “Of course, we love our crawfish down here.”

The business is also booming down the street at Quality Poultry & Seafood.

“We’ve had a lot more crawfish this year than we have in previous years due to the rain that we’ve had,” manager Todd Rosetti told WLOX.

He says during a typical year, two or three suppliers show up to his shop about twice a week, but now, they are receiving loads almost daily.

“We’re boiling every day now. Before, it was like one or two days a week. And the demand has definitely increased,” he said. “They buy two or three pounds, now they’re coming in buying five and 10 pounds.”

With supply and demand in sync this year, the price is right, with one pound of crawfish costing on average about four to five dollars.