Local man gets post on seafood board

Stephen Minvielle of New Iberia was nominated by people in the Louisiana crawfish industry and appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal to serve on the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board.

The governor’s office said the purpose of LSPMB “is to help strengthen and revitalize the Louisiana Seafood Industry, to identify threats and execute strategic plans to overcome them.”

Board appointments are gubernatorial and must be approved by the Senate, a press release said.

“Its a good position to have,” Minvielle said. “I can help to put crawfish back in its rightful place as a Louisiana icon.”

Minvielle recently testified for the U.S./China Economic and Security Commission about crawfish imports, product testing and tariffs.

Country of origin labeling is a hot-button issue for crawfish farmers, he said. Many consumers don’t realize some Louisiana-based companies repackage imported products with more “Louisiana looking packaging,” he said.

“Nine out of 10 times, if the package has the word “wild” on it, it’s imported crawfish,” Minvielle said.

Minvielle, a crawfish farmer who owns Bayouland Farms, believes consumers should be wary of Chinese crawfish.

“Crawfish have a limited shelf life,” he said. “Antibiotics are about the only way to get around that, and the Chinese use illegal antibiotics to make their products last longer, which has adverse effects on those that eat them.”

This crawfish season has been a tough one for local farmers. Minvielle said between 60- to 80-percent of ponds have been drained already.

“There was just no money in it this year,” Minvielle said. “Farmers are getting 50 cents per pound for the large (crawfish) and 30 per pound for the processing grade. The problem is most are being called processing grade by the buyers to the producers and being sold to the public as large. Consumers should be asking why the prices are so high in the stores, because the farmer’s sure aren’t making the money.”

The wild crawfish season is showing some promise with water levels high enough for fisherman to catch a good crop.

Jay Huner, retired director of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Crawfish Research Center currently working as a consultant in the crawfish industry, said many consumers faced with high prices in the beginning of the season have waited to see wild season prices. Although consumers might be tempted with the prices of imported crawfish, Minvielle wants to remind them there is no comparison to Louisiana crawfish, which he says are the “freshest and safest product you could possibly put into your mouth.”