BREAUX BRIDGE - It might be early, but this crawfish season has already proven itself to be particularly challenging. 

Forrest White is a crawfish farmer who has spent nearly every day of his life in a boat checking crawfish traps. In all his years, he's never caught so few.

"This is my worst year ever. We always did good. We always made a good living but this year, I ain't never saw it this bad," White said.

Excessive, record-breaking heat during summer 2023 is to blame for killing off a large portion of the crawfish population. To add to the damage, freezing temperatures are causing the remaining crawfish to burrow underground. 

That leaves crawfish farmers like White without much to work with as they begin harvesting. After checking about 80 traps in his pond, White only caught about 1/4 of a sack. 

"Right now we're catching two, three, up to four sacks. In the past we're usually up to about 10 right now," White said. 

Because supply can't keep up with demand, the burden is being passed down to consumers. White sells his crawfish to markets for $8 a pound, which is the highest price he's ever seen.

"If that price wouldn't be what it is, we'd all be losing money. All the farmers," White said.

He can't control the weather, but he can control his attitude. Despite the grim outlook, White is holding out hope for things to improve after Lent. 

"It's lookin' bad but I'll be positive and say I think it's gonna be a decent year," White said.

Only time will tell, but experts are predicting the low supply could last well into next year's crawfish season.