DENVER (KDVR) — If you’ve enjoyed a crawfish boil in Colorado before 2024, it was illegal. That’s right — Colorado has had a longstanding ban on mudbugs.
But not anymore. As of Jan. 1, Coloradans can legally import, transport and possess Louisiana crawfish — officially named the red swamp crayfish — for human consumption.
As any Louisiana transplant knows, there’s a large market for live crawfish in Colorado. But state wildlife officials only became aware of that in early 2023 after someone was cited for illegal importation.
“After further investigation, it was discovered that illegal imports of live red swamp crayfish had been occurring for years, if not decades, with most importers unaware they were breaking the law,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a release.
That includes dozens of restaurants and several distributors, one of whom claims to sell between 9,000-11,000 pounds of live imported crawfish weekly during peak season.
So, CPW took the issue to the public, which responded in favor of lifting the ban. The Parks and Wildlife Commission changed the rules in November, and the new year kicked off a new era of legal crawfish boils in Colorado.
Boiled crawfish (AP Photo/Todd Bennett)
Rules for importing crawfish in Colorado
Here are the new rules for importing Louisiana crawfish into Colorado:
No person may possess an individual of the species alive for more than 72 hours
Any person who possesses the species alive must have:
A copy of an importation license that authorizes the importation of the crayfish in the person’s possession; and
A receipt or delivery confirmation reflecting the date the person took possession of the crayfish
Importation licenses cost $91 for the calendar year and are available at cpwshop.com.
Also, crawfish cannot be released or used as bait.
Colorado bans the import of many aquatic species to protect the state’s waterways from invaders, which can destroy habitat and alter food chains. Most live crayfish species remain illegal in Colorado, like the rusty crayfish, alongside other species like New Zealand mud snails and zebra/quagga mussels.
Colorado does not have any known populations of the red swamp crayfish.
