Jeri's Oysters

08/06/2026

07/17/2026

06/30/2026

🦪 Big win for Texas oyster reefs! The S. Reed Morian Oyster Buyback Program completed its second round of oyster license buybacks on May 15 with 46 more commercial licenses slated to be purchased — bringing the total to nearly 30% of all Texas oyster licenses removed from the fishery since the buyback program launched last year. This public-private partnership between Texas Parks and Wildlife and TPWF is making a significant impact in reducing the pressure on this fragile resource.

The initiative was made possible by key funders Laurie and S. Reed Morian Foundation and the Coastal Conservation Association, with support from The Brown Foundation, the Earl C. Sams Foundation, Jeffery and Mindy Hildebrand, Beaver and Joanie Aplin, John and Mary Eads, and Bobby and Sherri Patton. Learn more in our latest newsletter: http://pwft.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=15406.0&dlv_id=0&pgwrap=n



Photo: Jonathan Vail Photography

06/20/2026

06/14/2026

Big day for Texas oysters.

On Friday, June 12, 2026, Jeri’s Oysters, with the support of PMAR — Palacios Marine Agriculture Research, deployed 1 million hatchery-reared oyster seed on one of our Certificate of Location/on-bottom oyster leases in East Galveston Bay.

To our knowledge, this marks the first time in Texas history that hatchery-reared oyster seed has been deployed on-bottom at this scale in a commercial setting.

The 3–4 mm seed were spread across 5 acres using an agricultural drone, completing the deployment in just 15–20 minutes.

This project was made possible by legislation passed during the 2025 Texas legislative session, which allows oyster seed to be planted directly on-bottom.

We were also glad to have members of the Galveston Bay Foundation , Coastal Preservation & Restoration, and CV Carbon join us on-site.

A huge thank you to PMAR for generously donating the seed, and to Erik Olsen with ProTexAG for providing the drone and being willing to help try something innovative.

This is something we have wanted to test for a long time, and we look forward to sharing updates and results. If successful, this method could create significant savings in reef development and become a powerful new tool for rebuilding oyster production and restoring degraded oyster reefs at scale in Texas.

Stay Tuned as we will have more updates to come.

04/23/2026

Please help spread the word to anyone holding a Texas oyster boat license.
More information from TPWD is here: https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releases/?req=20260323a
Previous buyback information is here: https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releases/?req=20250818b