Abstract

The crayfish industry in the United States began quite late. The English, who made the greatest contributions to American cultural development, largely rejected crayfish as food, and today this concept is accepted by most Americans. There were some immigrants into the United States, however, who held different views, and undoubtedly crayfish were eaten throughout American history. The commercial movement of crayfish did not begin until the 1880’s. The major producing regions have been Wisconsin, south Louisiana, and the Pacific Northwest. Wisconsin had a small industry but it largely ended by the 1930’s. The Northwest has historically produced large numbers of crayfish though few were landed during the 1960's. Commercial movement of crayfish to Sweden greatly stimulated production in the early 1970’s, but this movement has now ended. It is south Louisiana that today completely dominates the industry. Louisiana produces about 5 million kg a year, with a bout half of that total produced in artificial impoundments. Louisiana, with a large and growing local market, is the only region to have a mature crayfish industry.

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