ATCHAFALAYA BASIN — Things still aren't looking too good for crawfishermen out on the Basin.
KATC spent some time out in the swamp with Basin crawfisherman Ben Bienvenu to get a better look at what he's been seeing all season.
"I probably have, like, in this little area here a little over 300, and then a little over there, I probably have a little over 400, and probably, oh, 500 on this end over here," Bienvenu said.
That's 1,200 crawfish traps set up throughout one section of swamp, all belonging to Bienvenu, and yet, he hasn't been out to check them in over a month—not because he doesn't want to, but because the expense of the trip—
"Bait cost you $74 for 100 pounds of bait. Gasoline. If you break down, you really going to be in a bind," Bienvenu said.
That all outweighs the amount of crawfish caught.
"The big stink out here is, you know, that we lost our crop because of the drought, you know, and them crawfish ain't—they're not here at all," he said.
Typically at this point during the season, Bienvenu would be looking for three to five pounds of crawfish per trap.
Of all the traps we checked while out in the swamp with him, the most we saw was 10—not 10 pounds, but 10 crawfish.
Most traps had only one or two crawfish.
Some had none—a problem many Basin crawfishermen have been struggling with, just as crawfish farmers were earlier in the season, which is when Rep. Clay Higgins wrote a letter to the Department of Agriculture, requesting that drought be included "as an eligible cause of loss for the crawfish aquaculture industry in the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program."
Notice that last part: "Farm-Raised Fish."
So, while farmers were granted that relief, this side of the industry didn't make the cut.
We sat down with St. Martin Parish President Pete Delcambre, who said he has had Basin crawfishermen reaching out to them, expressing their struggles.
"...and that's when I took the bull by the horns. I called and got in touch with Senator Higgins' office, displaying my displeasure with the exclusion of these people—of my people," Delcambre said.
He was instructed to write a letter showing figures that verify the damage to the industry and have it signed by area parish and police jury presidents.
"Which I did, forming a letter, sending it back to Senator Higgins' office, of which, he was going to bring to Washington D.C. and see if we could get some relief through the Department of Commerce. It was then relayed to me that it was denied," Delcambre said.
In that letter, Delcambre noted the link between crawfish pond farming and indigenous fishing, saying "There are direct annual sales of the indigenous to the ponds in restocking programs which have proven to enhance both volume and biological stability of future stock. To address one portion of the industry while excluding the other would have adverse and long-lasting effects on both."
This can already be seen on the farms of people like Jude Mequet.
"Typically, when the Basin's on fire, which is going to be this time of year, you can go to almost any fisherman out there, and they're going to catch 40, 50 sacks—30, 40 sacks of crawfish. The crawfish is extremely late this year, and I've only gotten five or six sacks from Basin crawfishermen," Mequet said.
The time to restock has been here, but without Basin crawfish available, farmers like Mequet have had to find other methods.
"I've actually went to other farmers in the area and the farmers that had the better crawfish, which were a stock from last year from the Basin, and that's how I'm putting my crawfish in the ponds this year," he said.
That's a solid solution for pond farmers, but one that leaves the future of Basin crawfishermen as an even greater unknown.
"God got his hands on everything. He's in control, so that's why I pray everyday 'Lord, make my crawfish get bigger,' for when the time is right, I'm coming to catch them," Bienvenu said.
