Will labor shortages in crawfish industry affect supply for Easter weekend?

CHALMETTE, La. (WVUE) -If you’re planning to have crawfish this Easter weekend, you may want to prepare for lines at seafood restaurants, as this is the peak of crawfish season. At Today’s Ketch, the final days before Easter Sunday are like the run-up to the Super Bowl of seafood.

“Good Friday, Saturday and then Easter Sunday is the finale of it,” said Jeff Pohlmann, owner of Today’s Ketch.

Jeff Pohlmann and his wife own the seafood restaurant in Chalmette. Pohlmann says because the peak of crawfish season often coincides with Easter, live and boiled crawfish make up most of their orders this time of year.

“Crawfish is probably 60-70% of it, but then you got oysters involved in it, shrimp and crabs,” said Pohlmann.

On Thursday, Pohlmann had plenty of crawfish to boil and sell, but that does not reflect some of the struggles in Louisiana’s $300 million crawfish industry this season. Many crawfish farmers say last year’s federal government shutdown delayed H-2A visa applications needed to bring in temporary migrant workers to harvest their crop.

“Without those guys and ladies, I don’t know what we would do without them,” said Jeff Pohlmann.

Complicating matters, crawfish processors say the national limit on H-2B visas to import workers to peel and clean the mudbugs was reached months ago. Louisiana’s agriculture commissioner says those conditions have choked the foreign labor pool.

“The bottom line is, by the time these workers get here, then crawfish season is going to be over,” said Mike Strain, commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

The lack of labor on crawfish farms and at processing plants this season caused a trickle-down effect. Places like Today’s Ketch have certainly felt the impact.

“We were set back probably at least a month on that, but it seems like it’s coming around. It’s a little easier in getting the processed crawfish,” said Jeff Pohlmann.

Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain says the challenges in securing migrant labor are not isolated to crawfish.

“It’s crawfish today and crabs, but it will also be for our nursery and landscaping people, those entities that plant trees for our renewable and sustainable forests. So, the effect of this is much broader,” said Strain.

Back at Jeff Pohlmann’s restaurant, he says, despite labor problems and concerns about inflation, crawfish prices remain reasonable.

“I look back, and it’s about the same price as it was last year. Crawfish still is a good buy,” said Pohlmann.

In a deeply Catholic region, many consider decent crawfish prices and supply an Easter blessing.

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