Above-average temperatures in November and December have helped Louisiana’s crawfish season get off to a fast start.
Water temperatures in some ponds were as high as 75 degrees at the end of December, which kept newly hatched crawfish active and growing.
Read MoreFour hurricanes over the course of two-years has cost the Louisiana seafood industry almost a $580 million dollar loss to infrastructure, revenue and resources.
Read MoreYou know all those delicious crawfish we love to eat every season? Here's a bird's eye view into how Louisiana's largest crawfish farm gets them from the rice fields to your table.
Read MoreLife has been like a bowl of gumbo for James Carville, Louisiana’s most famous political consultant. For 77-years he has stirred the hot pot, not always sure of success. But when it comes to making real gumbo, with real seafood, there’s only one he accepts, Louisiana Gulf seafood.
Read MoreCrawfish lovers should be optimistic about the first mudbugs of the season. Area restaurant owners say this season the crawfish prices are down and size is up from last year.
Read MoreFor more than six hours fifth-generation Houma oysterman Jacob David Hulse, his girlfriend Lindsey Willis and his dog Change huddled in an the oyster shop of friend Kenneth (Keno) Templet struggling to keep the walls and roof from caving as the more than 140-mph winds of Hurricane Ida continuously battered away at the structure. When the winds started to subside, Hulse thought he had gone through the worst of it. Like many Louisiana fishermen are finding out, his troubles were only beginning after the storm was finished.
Read MoreIn January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will survey catfish operations nationwide to provide an up-to-date measure of U.S. catfish inventories, sales, and water acreage used for production.
Read MoreThe American farmer has always been at the cutting edge of technological adoption, creativity, ingenuity, and advancement, noted Mac Marshall, vice president of market intelligence for United Soy Board/U.S. Soybean Export Council.
"For us to meet future world demand, making sure that we invest in that technology and the human capital and infrastructure remains absolutely critical," he said.
Read MoreHurricane Ida is just the most recent blow to an industry still recovering from the BP Oil Spill in 2010 and the Bonnet Carre Spillway opening in 2019.
Read MoreIt doesn't take long to learn what's important to Tony Tesvich. Just look at what he named his boat: "Legacy."
"We're trying to live out a legacy of our people, of our family, to produce oysters," said Tesvich, a fourth-generation oyster farmer from the southern tip of Plaquemines Parish. "It's with tremendous pride that we deliver these to New Orleans restaurants."
Read MoreAs many restaurants reopen, they are now dealing with a supply shortage as the Louisiana seafood industry took a big hit during Hurricane Ida, specifically the oyster industry.
Read MoreMore than 100 million pounds of crawfish are harvested in Louisiana between March and June of every year. The unique flavor, non-demanding growing conditions and sustainability of crawfish caused the expansion of aquaculture across the country. The harvesting and sale of crawfish is now a multi-billion dollar industry which requires technological evolution to cope with the ever-increasing demand.
Spotting the need for new harvesting equipment, six engineering students worked together to build a robotic arm to automatically harvest crawfish from their traps.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it will soon publish Requests for Applications (RFAs) for new grant programs - the Pandemic Response and Safety (PRS) Grant program and the Seafood Processors Pandemic Response and Safety Block Grant program - to support agricultural stakeholders who haven’t yet received substantial federal financial assistance in responding to the COVID-19 crisis.
Read MoreStarting Sunday, 1 August, a new law took effect in Louisiana that expands the testing requirements for foreign-produced seafood sold by state businesses.
Under the law, commercial seafood permit holders who sell imported seafood will be charged a USD 100 (EUR 84.24) annual fee. According to a fiscal note for the bill, the fee will raise USD 7,500 (EUR 6,317) annually.
State Rep. Timothy Kerner (R-Lafitte) sponsored the bill, H.B. 317, in the Louisiana State Legislature during its session earlier this year. It calls for the creation of the the Imported Seafood Safety Fund,, which will be earmarked to the Louisiana Department of Health.
Read MoreWashington, D.C., U.S.A was a busy place Thursday, 29 July, as lawmakers in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate passed large appropriation bills, both of which included seafood-related line-items and initiatives.
In the House, a package of seven spending bills passed by a 219-208 vote. The appropriations package included funding for such agencies as the Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration and Department of Interior. Among the projects in the bill is a USD 6 million (EUR 5.1 million) initiative secured by Louisiana U.S. Reps. Garret Graves (R), Steve Scalise (R), and Troy Carter (D) that would redirect dredged sediment to coastal restoration projects in the state instead of having it dumped in the Gulf of Mexico.
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