Men ticketed after 80 sacks of dead crawfish found dumped at Louisiana boat launch

After 80 sacks of could-have-been boiled crawfish were abandoned at a Vermilion Parish boat launch — the mudbugs all dead — Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries agents cited two Lafayette men Wednesday with “gross littering.”

The agency accused Adam Ory, 20, and Austin Barbier, 23, of dumping the dead crustaceans at Hebert boat landing on Schooner Bayou, about 45 miles southwest of Lafayette, after Ory bought them live but failed in efforts to resell them across the Gulf Coast. Both were cited with gross littering, and Ory was additional ticketed with buying or selling fish without a retail license, violating interstate commerce regulations and failing to maintain records.

The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said Ory bought live crawfish in Louisiana on March 20 and drove them to Mississippi, Alabama and Florida for resale the next day. Unable to unload them all, he returned to Louisiana, and Barbier helped him dump the surplus March 30 at the boat launch, the agency said.

The agency said it identified the truck and trailer used to deliver the lifeless mudbugs to the site, which led investigators to Ory and Barbier.

Gross littering carries a maximum prison term of 30 days, a fine of as much as $900 and 16 days of community service. Ory, if convicted of the other offenses, could be fined another $1,900 and kept in prison 300 more days.

This story was originally published April 8, 2023 at 11:09 AM.