Barrier Beauties Oyster Aquaculture

Restaurant Beatrice Introduces a Gulf Seafood Program for all of DFW | Eater Dallas

"Founded by Hannah Kaplan, Barrier Beauties is an oyster farm off the Gulf shore in Galveston that now supplies Beatrice; it was the second operation to register as an oyster farm in Texas and the only one founded by a woman. I learned that getting to market has been slow—the permitting process took nearly a year and the state still needs to approve a hatchery program, so Kaplan currently sends broodstock out of state for fertilization before returning spat to the Gulf—but when her spawn is in the water she can harvest between half a million and up to 1.5 million oysters. Barrier Beauties have been used primarily in cooked items at Beatrice (like Oysters Beatrice) while Kaplan works to produce smaller “boutique” oysters suitable for raw service, and her product is currently only found in a handful of restaurants around Texas." - Courtney E. Smith