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Greater New Orleans crawfish prices soar for first Friday of Lent

BUCKTOWN, La. (WGNO) — Friday, Feb. 16 is the first day of Lent and that means that many Catholics will be eating seafood, but if crawfish is on the menu, it could put a big dent in your wallet.

WGNO’s Kenny Lopez went to Captain Sid’s Seafood in Bucktown to check it out.

Crawfish is coming in hot but coming in high. For the first Friday of Lent, over at Captain Sid’s, boiled crawfish is $9.99 a pound, and live crawfish is $9 a pound.

“We’re excited to get Lent started but unfortunately the prices are still high, so we won’t sell as much as we typically would, especially on the first day of Lent,” Ray Schlaudecker, owner of Captain Sid’s Seafood said.

Customers just aren’t buying what they normally would because of the prices.

“You know the person that normally gets five pounds is now getting two pounds, and the ten-pound person is now getting five. You know everyone still wants to get a taste of crawfish, right now it’s just really high,” Schlaudecker said.

“Prices are so high right now because of the drought, cold front, and a really early Lent, so a mix of all these things really has the prices where they are at now,” he said.

Customers like Tim Egan say his love for crawfish will get him to pay the price.

“We will just deal with the price. We’re going to enjoy them. I’ll tell you that,” Egan said.

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