BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — As crawfish season begins, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is reminding people not to commit crawfish pollution.

Its February newsletter advises not to put crawfish shells or boil water down storm drains, into ditches, or anywhere they could get into bodies of water.

The department and the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program say that can kill fish and other aquatic species and contribute to wider fish kills and fish diseases.

They say the shells should either be double-bagged and put into a secure trash can or buried in your yard as compost.

Boil water should go down the drain or onto your own property away from drainage.