BATON ROUGE - Scientists at LSU's AgCenter are using cryogenic freezing to preserve the genetic material of Louisiana crawfish, among other aquatic species.

At the Aquatic Germplasm and Genetic Resources Center, researchers store sperm, eggs, and embryos of aquatic species in liquid nitrogen. Jack Kock, the associate director of the center, says the process is similar to in-vitro fertilization.

"They're still alive, but the biological activity has been reduced a lot, right? And then you can take those cells, and they're frozen. You can send them anywhere in the world," Koch said.

He says the work could help farmers preserve the strongest crawfish genetics.

"Farmers might identify a population of crawfish they want to keep for future breeding, or they might have a pond. For example, they may have two ponds: one with a high growth rate and another with a low growth rate. They want to conserve the high-growth pond," he explained.

In 2023, the Louisiana crawfish industry saw large numbers of crawfish killed in a drought, costing the industry more than $100 million. Researchers say cryogenic preservation could help farmers recover faster from future losses and even develop crawfish that are resistant to certain conditions.

"Maybe it's drought-resistant or disease-resistant. We could grow some of them up and seed them into farmers' ponds to distribute that genetic line," he said.

Experts have told WBRZ this crawfish season is looking good, with peak availability from March to May.