Home > Crops & Livestock > Aquaculture > Crawfish > Harvesting > Crawfish Production: Harvesting [Image: Publication cover] Freshwater crawfish of the genus Procambarus are a valuable aquaculture commodity in the southern United States, with annual production of 30 to 50 million pounds and farm-gatevalues of $25 to 50 million. Unlike fishes, crawfish are not harvested by seining. Instead, crawfish are harvested with a passive system that uses baited traps. Crawfish Trap Design and Construction [Image: Crawfish Trap Design and Construction] This article describes materials and techniques for the construction of pillow traps and pyramid traps used to harvest crawfish in Louisiana's commercial crawfish industry Harvest [Image: Harvest] This document is Chapter 8 in the Louisiana Crawfish Production Manual. The chapter discusses factors affecting crawfish catch and size of crawfish at harvest, trap types, baits, baiting strategies, trapping strategies and harvesting machinery. Improved Crawfish Trap Design Might Mean Fewer Traps Needed [Image: Square mesh traps] Over the last several years, crawfish farmers have been switching to a slightly different crawfish trap – one constructed of ¾-inch square mesh wire in lieu of those made from ¾-inch hexagonal (6-sided) mesh. The square mesh traps are more durable and produce larger catches.