Tony’s Seafood manager: ‘Pray for more crawfish’

Crawfish burrows are about as dried up as Uncle Sam’s wallet—just in time for Lent. Supply of these mudbugs is about 60% to 70% less than last year, according to Steve LeBlanc, manager at Tony’s Seafood, whose popular boiled crawfish come from the farms and spillways that dot South Louisiana’s landscape.

Hurricane Gustav and less rainfall have contributed to an unusual crawfish population this season, leading the price of crawfish to be more than a dollar higher this time of year than last. Tony’s boiled crawfish is $3.89 a pound, up from $2.79 mid-February 2008. “We’re battling all the forces this year,” says Leblanc, who calculates that Tony’s is selling 35% fewer crawfish than usual. “I didn’t have enough crawfish to sell today. We sold out at 5 p.m. (Wednesday).”

As Baton Rougeans adjust to life as usual after a festive Mardi Gras, most crawfish farmers and fishermen are being hit hard economically by not being able to produce as much. Warmer weather and more water will get the delicate crustaceans moving around and multiplying. “Pray for more crawfish,” Leblanc says. “The last thing we need is more fishermen going out of business in Louisiana.”

On the other hand, the rest of the seafood supply is hitting its almost-springtime stride, according to Ragan Rigby, sales manager for Louisiana Seafood Exchange, which supplies most Capital City restaurants. Fried oysters, for example, should be on everyone’s list for Lent. “It’s just a phenomenal time right now for oysters. We’re getting tons of them, and they’re very good right now,” Rigby says. Other specialty fish flooding into restaurants include flounder, speckled trout from the Carolinas and Mississippi, black drum, arctic sea bass (aka Chilean sea bass), the very expensive grouper and the always-dependable shrimp and tuna. So when the crawfish runs out, there’s still plenty of great seafood to get hundreds of thousands of Catholics through the next few weeks.