CRUSTACEAN CULTURE 



By Kathy Hart 



The national popularity of Cajun 

 cooking has boosted the image of the 

 lowly crawfish. The once maligned, 

 swamp-loving crustaceans have risen to 

 new heights in culinary use. 



Until 10 years ago, most Southerners 

 used the small lobster-like crawfish for 

 bait. They called them crayfish or 

 crawdads. 



But in south Louisiana, where the 

 swamps run deep and the 'gators grow 

 big, crawfish are as revered at Cajun tables 

 as hot peppers and red beans. 



Now folks outside the Pelican State 

 are developing a taste for this bayou 

 favorite. And although Louisiana still reigns 

 king in crawfish production, farmers in 

 other Southern states are beginning to see 

 this crustacean as a culinary delicacy and a 

 cash crop. 



Crawfish culture is the largest 

 crustacean aquaculture food industry in 

 the United States. In Louisiana, 70 to 100 

 million pounds of crawfish are haivested 

 annually with 60 percent of that harvest 

 coming from ponds. 



Crawfish take to pond culture like 

 babies to milk. They flourish in less than 

 ideal culture environments. They eat a 

 variety of plants and animals, reproduce 

 often and numerously, and grow quickly. 



In North Carolina, crawfish aquacul- 

 ture is a fledgling industry, but one that is 

 trying to make a splash among Tar Heel 

 consumers. 



At present, there are 14 crawfish 

 producers in North Carolina harvesting 

 from 180 acres of ponds. 



These producers harvest about 

 100,000 pounds of the clawed crustaceans 

 between March and the end of June, says 

 Steve Gabel, an area aquaculture specialist 

 with the N.C. Cooperative Extension 

 Service. Most of their product is sold live 

 by the pound inside the state. 



In fact, the demand in North Carolina 



Cajun 

 Comes to 



exceeds the amount of product crawfish 

 producers can supply, says Aubrey Onley 

 Jr., president of the N.C. Crawfish Produc- 

 ers Association. 

 Those kinds of 

 economics have 

 farmers taking a 

 second look at the 

 feisty crawfish. 



it's an excellent 

 way to diversify your 

 existing farming 

 operations," Gabel 

 says. "They're a low 

 maintenance, low 

 cost species to raise." 



And they take 

 less technical know- 

 how than raising 



catfish or hybrid striped bass, Onley says. 



But you can't just dig a crawfish pond 

 anywhere. 



Gabel says you need flat land with 

 enough clay content to hold water. You 

 also must be able to pump 100 gallons of 

 fresh water per minute per acre of pond. 



Ponds vary in size, but all are shallow, 

 about 18 to 24 inches deep. 



In most cases, producers stock their 

 ponds once with sexually mature crawfish 

 at a rate of 50 to 75 pounds per acre. At 

 least 50 percent of the crustaceans should 

 be female, but it is better if the ratio is 60 

 to 70 percent. 



Unless water quality problems occur 

 or a reproductive class is lost, crawfish will 

 reproduce in ample numbers to restock 

 the pond from year to year. 



Red swamp crawfish is the species of 

 choice for culture in the Southeast. It's 

 hardy and lays an abundance of eggs. 

 Some culturists also stock a small percent- 

 age of white river crawfish. But it is neither 

 as hearty nor as prolific. 



In North Carolina, crawfish are harv- 

 ested between March and late June using 

 traps that work and look like crab pots. 



Favorite 

 Carolina 



A producer never removes all of his 

 stock. He leaves some behind to pare next 

 year's crop. The crustaceans breed during 



C R Edeerton 



May and June, and the female holds the 

 sperm until she lays her eggs. 



In July, the producer begins draining 

 his ponds at a rate of an inch per day. 

 Meanwhile, the crawfish burrow in the 

 muddy pond bottom. Eventually, they 

 tunnel to a moist location just above the 

 water table. 



After the pond has been drained, the 

 producer plants a forage crop — rice, grain 

 sorghum or sorghum-sudan grass — to feed 

 his crawfish when the pond is re-flooded. 

 In most cases, the crop provides all the 

 nourishment the crawfish need, and the 

 producer doesn't need to supplement the 

 crustacean's diet. 



In her underground burrow, the female 

 lays 400 to 700 eggs in August or September 

 and holds them beneath her tail. The eggs 

 hatch two to three weeks later but remain 

 beneath the shelter of their mother's tail 

 until the pond is re-flooded in late Septem- 

 ber or early October. 



When the pond is re-flooded, the 

 crawfish emerge from their burrows. During 

 the fall and winter, they munch out on the 

 forage crop and grow, periodically shedding 

 their rigid exoskeletons. 



8 JULY/AUGUST 1991 



