Sen. Kennedy announces ‘CRAWDAD Act’ to address crawfish crisis
BATON ROUGE, La. (KALB) - Louisiana Senator John Kennedy is introducing the Crawfish Recovery Assistance from Weather Disasters and Droughts Act, also called the CRAWDAD Act for short.
The bill aims to help crawfish jobs as droughts and severe weather put a strain on the industry.
The act would expand emergency livestock assistance funding to crawfish producers. It would also declare a drought as a weather event to ensure crawfish farmers can qualify for the funding.
“Louisiana’s crawfish farmers have worked hard to weather a bad freeze and devastating drought. My CRAWDAD Act would give mudbug farmers the help they need to keep delivering quality Louisiana fare to crawfish lovers everywhere,” said Sen. Kennedy.
Congressman Troy Carter is also calling for help with the ongoing crawfish crisis.
He is asking Governor Jeff Landry to pursue the Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loans for crawfish farmers. A business must be declared a disaster area to get that loan.
Carter is requesting the governor to issue a statewide disaster declaration in the crawfish industry.
Also, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry has released an update on their response to the crawfish supply issues plaguing the state.
On Feb. 2, LDAF Commissioner Mike Strain wrote a letter to the USDA secretary asking that the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program and similar programs be used to help the industry. On Feb. 28, Strain sent a second letter asking for the program to include drought as a loss for the crawfish industry.
In a press release on their website, the LDAF said:
“Commissioner Strain is dedicated to finding assistance for Louisiana’s crawfish industry. He continues to urge our federal partners to grant our requests for aid, and he is working with the Louisiana State Legislature to explore avenues to help our crawfish farmers in the upcoming Legislative Session.”
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