He expects to sell several thousand pounds of crawfish this spring, with many customers buying 40 or 50 pounds at a time. "People want variety, and this is something new and something different," he said.

Despite the growing demand, the crawfish industry remains a difficult one to make profits in, with financial demands from labor costs. Last year in North Carolina, seven producers harvested an estimated 20,000 pounds of crawfish, valued at $45,000. In 2001, an estimated 45,000 pounds were harvested by four producers, according to the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The poundage varies yearly, depending on the number of producers harvesting their ponds and the weight of the crawfish in the ponds. The numbers are estimates because producers aren't required by the state to report harvests. With sales averaging about $500 an acre, harvesters say they barely break even or just make enough to supplement their income.

North Carolina's production is popcorn shrimp compared with Louisiana's. Of the 50 million pounds of crawfish harvested in the United States each year, about 90 percent of it comes from Louisiana. North Carolina produces less than 1 percent, while the rest is split among Texas, Florida and Alabama, according to the state Agriculture Department.

Crawfish production in the state started in the 1980s and peaked in the mid-1990s, said Tom Ellis, the state's director of aquaculture and natural resources. Farms have either moved on to other aquaculture production, such as yellow perch, or converted to vegetable farms. Some farmers have quit because of their age. "It's just been a slow attrition," Ellis said.

For those still in business, the next 45 days are crucial, as crawfish approach their prime size. Crawfish producers will be busy combing through their ponds, harvesting the feisty critters, a strange amalgamation of lobster and shrimp, in specially designed crawfish cages. They sell them weekly to seafood markets, individual customers or even restaurants, although most local restaurants and groceries buy crawfish shipped in from Louisiana or frozen crawfish from China.

The season will peak May 17, when most commercial crawfish farmers, who are in Eastern North Carolina, meet in Raleigh for the annual Crawfish Boil at the State Farmers Market off Lake Wheeler Road. Crawfish will be sold live for $4 a pound. The price goes up to $5 if you want them cooked.

Most of the big money, though, is made from supplying customers' crawfish boils.

Like pig pickin's or oyster roasts, crawfish boils are increasingly a reason in North Carolina to gather friends and have a party. Potatoes, smoked sausage and corn on the cob are added to big vats of seasoned boiling water. Then several hundred pounds of crawfish are dropped in live to boil for about seven minutes. They're set to stew off the heat for another 10 minutes. The water is then drained and the pot is poured out on tables for a family-style feast. Diners pick apart the crawfish shells to get to the meat, often a time-consuming process since it takes about 10 pounds of crawfish to create two pounds of meat.

"It's a socializing food," said James Bass, one of the state's leading commercial crawfish producers, at his family's Jambbas Ranch in Fayetteville.

When Sterling Davenport, another leading producer, decided 19 years ago to fill a pond and harvest crawfish, "I could hardly give them away." He wasn't sure how long it would take before people were willing to give the crawfish a try.

Now in his 18th season, he's watched the industry grow, especially in the past three years. While he sells several hundred pounds each week to area seafood markets, such as Capital Seafood off Maywood Avenue in Raleigh, much of his business comes from locals, who stop by his Roper farm in Washington County to buy crawfish for parties.

Despite increased demand, the price per pound for crawfish has stayed about the same. Most producers charge individual customers about $3 a pound and seafood markets about $2.75 a pound. Capital Seafood sells crawfish retail for $4 a pound.

That revenue, though, hardly makes the venture profitable. Bass said he makes about $500 off each of his 14 acres of ponds.

It doesn't help the farmers any that crawfish season is short. Once the weather gets hot, the season's over. The crawfish burrow deep into the ground to stay cool, and the ponds are drained. Rice is planted on top. The crawfish won't start reappearing again until next March after the ponds have been refilled with water and the crawfish are again ready to be harvested.

North Carolina crawfish are different from most harvested Louisiana crawfish, Bass said. Local harvesters purge or cleanse the intestines of their catch using a fresh water, instead of saltwater, shower for about 36 hours. As a result, the cost is a higher per pound, but producers say buyers appreciate the difference.

"People have realized that it's a good product," Davenport said. "They're clean and fresh and live."