Oyster Mariculture
Getting Started
Current Farmers
Contact
Texas Sea Grant College Program
Texas A&M University
4115 TAMU
College Station, Texas 77843
Oyster farming, or cultivated oyster mariculture (COM) is Texas’s newest aquaculture industry. The Gulf of Mexico is the source of most oysters consumed in the United States and home to wild oyster beds that have long provided eastern oysters for Texas dinner tables.
Now, with recently legalized COM, prospective oyster producers have the opportunity to join the multi-billion-dollar commercial oyster industry. New farming methods have made off-bottom oyster mariculture an accessible and eco-friendly venture for farmers who own or wish to lease land along the Gulf coast. Farmed oysters tend to be larger and plumper than their wild counterparts and can be harvested year-round, making them well suited to the lucrative restaurant market.
Texas Sea Grant has put together this site to provide prospective farmers with the information they need for permitting, setting up farms, and growing large, delicious Gulf oysters.
How much do you know about eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica), the only species farmed in Texas waters? Check out our Oyster 101 section for a guide to oyster habitat, life cycle, anatomy, breeding, and more.
Have you ever heard the old adage that you should only eat oysters harvested in months ending with “R”? Thanks to modern farming methods, that is no longer true! Find out the health benefits of eating oysters.
Texas Sea Grant has hired Mario Marquez as the program’s new aquaculture specialist to meet the needs of the recent legalization of the oyster aquaculture industry in Texas.
Opportunities arise for oyster mariculture
Texas Sea Grant has hired Mario Marquez as the program’s new aquaculture specialist to meet the needs of the recent legalization of the oyster aquaculture industry in Texas.
Based in Palacios, TX, Marquez aids the expansion and development of the oyster mariculture industry, coordinating with public and private stakeholders to facilitate economical and sustainable oyster aquaculture.
Texas Sea Grant College Program
Texas A&M University
4115 TAMU
College Station, Texas 77843