Amidst all the bad news connected to high water levels in the Mississippi River comes good new for mudbug lovers.
It appears we're looking at an extended crawfish season right now.
Fishermen are hauling in hundreds of sacks of crawfish from a normally marshy area in Plaquemines Parish that's now covered with fresh water from the river.
"It's entirely understandable," says Dr. Greg Lutz, with the LSU Ag Center. "Because our crawfish have evolved to thrive in habitats that are flooded and then dry out, and flooded and then dry out."
It's made for peak season conditions on the east bank of Plaquemines in an area near Mardi Gras Pass.
"As long as there were young crawfish out there, most of which probably never would have been harvested in a normal year, and the water comes up and exposes all this additional habitat for them, they're just going to take off...especially with the warm temperatures that we've got."
"It's like a perfect recipe for these guys to really survive and grow," Lutz says. "Whereas, in a normal year, we probably wouldn't have gotten anything out of that area."
Now, thousands of the critters are happily being harvested daily.
"When you have water of the volume that we're seeing, then suddenly you've got access, you've got productivity. And, these little guys have been around 250 million years, so they know how to take advantage of situations like this."
Lutz says there may be other areas producing crawfish that hadn't previously been noted. And, he says we may be able to enjoy the critters for a while yet.
"I wouldn't be surprised if there are some places where we had some crawfish established but really not well suited for harvest most years."
"As long as the environment stays conducive, I think all of those crawfish are going to have a chance to get pretty big and eventually find their way into a trap."