Houston’s 2025 crawfish season looks promising, according to caterers, experts

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After a season of higher-than-average prices last year, the 2025 crawfish season is shaping up to see a return to normal or even lower prices for Houstonians.

Last year, the crawfish season experienced a rocky start with lower-than-expected production from Louisiana farms — the top producer of crawfish in the nation. However, this year is shaping up to be a much more favorable season thanks to steady rain.

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The recent cold snap is not expected to cause much disruption to the season, other than a possible short-term delay, Fitzgerald said.

"Every time we get a cold spell the crawfish do go burrow under the ground for a little while and then they'll come back out when it gets warmer," she said.

While crawfish season has historically begun in March and ended sometime during July, Fitzgerald said it has started to trend earlier as the weather continues to stay warmer year-round.

"Over the years, our weather has stayed warm through the winter and if you get those rainfalls, some of the crawfish farmers actually can get started in December [or] January," she said. "Crawfish typically come out of hibernation in an October timeframe. ... When they [farmers] first get their first catch, the bigger crawfish in December and January is usually last year's holdover crawfish."

Texas is ranked a distant second in the U.S. for crawfish production, Fitzgerald said.

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Garner said customers were sometimes paying as much as $10 per pound for crawfish during the last season, causing him and others to start supplementing their offerings with other options.

"Nobody wants to pay that for crawfish," he said. "You'd have to eat five pounds of crawfish to get your money’s worth, in my opinion. So, just on live crawfish, you're spending $50 when you can get a pound of shrimp and pay $10."

This season will be much different, with consumers possibly even seeing lower-than-normal prices during the peak season, Garner said.

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As for what the crawfish business may look like long term, Garner said he is worried about the culture of starting the season earlier and earlier and wants to make sure the industry is focused on sustainability.

As an example of what could go wrong, Garner pointed to Sweden, where he said crawfish used to be a main local dish until the population was wiped out due to over-harvesting.

"I think we need to take a lesson from that and say, ‘Hey, maybe we don't need to eat them in December. Maybe let's bump it back to mid-January,' " he said.

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