The Louisiana crab business is still in bad shape between a lack of consumer confidence and reduced crab landings. I've always found it fascinating that the Gulf fishing industry prefers to pointedly eschew more transparent and meaningful seafood testing standards in favor of publicity campaigns. That doesn't exactly inspire confidence that all is well with Gulf seafood. Consumers and the Gulf fishers remain left with the short end of the stick.
Mysterious bacterial infections that weakened some Louisiana crabs, causing more to die before reaching their markets than usual, appear to have subsided as scientists predicted.
But fishermen, processors and distributors still have plenty to crab about, as prices and landings remain low, and the market for Louisiana crabs — along with other Gulf of Mexico seafood — stays slack due to nationwide concerns about safety following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
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Crab landings in most of Louisiana have remained somewhat steady over the past few years, according to annual data kept by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
But the Terrebonne Basin has displayed alarming disparities from norms this year when the numbers are examined by month.
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In May 2010 — as the Deepwater Horizon spill gushed into the Gulf of Mexico and fisheries were shut down — 953,503 pounds of blue crab from the Terrebonne Basin were landed at Louisiana docks.
The numbers for 2011 are a little more than half that, 460,068 pounds.
By comparison, landings from the region for May 2009 stood at 1,471,987.
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At Cajun Crab in Chauvin, Eric Blanchard says crab harvests have picked up since June. Crabbers are bringing him more product, but sales are slacking.
“We are using more fishermen to get the same amount of crabs and they are not at the level they were,” Blanchard said. Crab fishermen, dealers still struggling
Fishermen at local crab docks, based on a check of dealers, are getting between 35 and 40 cents per pound, sometimes a little more and sometimes less. In 2009 the average price for all sizes of Louisiana crabs combined, at the dock, was about $1.42 per pound. In 2010 the price had dropped to a little over $1 per pound, where it remained through March. Crabbers say that’s significant, because in the colder months crabs are usually more scarce and so fetch a higher price than in the warmer months.
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“Don’t let BP tell you the crabs are back in full force,” Blanchard said. “I have twice as many fishermen going out to get the same amount as last year. Some docks have shut down and some docks are not buying as much.”
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The tremendous number of crab cages each fishermen puts out on local waters is making individual efforts more difficult, fishermen say. There is a finite number of crabs, some argue, and more traps mean fewer crabs per fisherman.
Still they hope for something to turn their luck.
Among them is 46-year-old Barry Parfait of Houma, who heads out each day in his small Carolina skiff hoping for the best. He has four young mouths to feed, children ranging from 4-to-10-years-old.
“It seems like they have forgotten about us,” he said. “It’s like everybody has forgotten about us.”
