As Mardi Gras approaches, New Orleanians are ready for crawfish, but the season is off to a slow start thanks to recent humid and foggy weather.

Henry Poynter, owner of Big Fisherman Seafood on Magazine Street, said crawfish season started later than normal this year due to wet weather that has left some of his orders of crawfish dead on arrival.

“Fog kills crawfish. It takes oxygen out of the ponds and the crawfish come in and they don’t hold up well, they are really weak,” Poynter said. “They (fishermen) put them in the sack live and they may be 10, 20, sometimes even 40% dead.”

But Poynter said that once the weather changes, the season is looking up.

“When the cold front comes through, the crawfish are lively and strong,” Poynter said. “It looks like it’s going to be a good season. Everything I hear, they are catching pretty good.”

The going price for a pound of boiled crawfish is about average, at $6.99, according to Poynter, who expects the price to go down in the next couple of weeks.

“The cheaper the crawfish, the better we do,” Poynter said.

Big Fisherman customer and Tulane student Hannah Greenberg said she can’t wait for crawfish boils and NOLA Crawfish Festival, her favorite event of the year.

“I’m ready. Oh yeah, very ready,” Greenberg said.