NEW ORLEANS — In your Breakdown, there’s bad news and good news when it comes to seafood.
You’ve probably heard it will be a tough year for crawfish. A sparse harvest is blamed on the drought, and the price of the boiled delicacy is currently 9, 10, and even 11 dollars a pound in some places.
Lefort’s Seafood in Marrero summed it up pretty well in their TikTok, jokingly offering financing for two pounds of crawfish.
But there is good news for oyster lovers this year, and it comes from the saltwater intrusion that pushed up the Mississippi River.
The wedge increased the salinity in Louisiana’s estuaries, which led to brinier oysters and more of them.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries tells us that this summer's annual oyster stock assessment has shown a 95% increase in market-size oysters from two years ago.
Plus, 22,000 more sacks have been harvested this year over last year. But LDWF does say very high salinities can be bad long-term for the oyster reefs.
With oyster season upon us until April, you may want to consider serving up oysters at your next get-together, or you’ll be shelling out for crawfish.
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