Marine Sciences & One Health

Improving Texas Oyster Farming Starts Small: Q&A With Cathy Verneuil

Bldg. 311 sat down with Cathy Verneuil ’26 to discuss her upcoming undergraduate research scholar thesis. The marine biology and marine fisheries double major hopes to improve the oyster farming industry in Texas while getting hands-on experience in research and aquaculture.

You’re at the very beginning stages of your research project. Can you tell us a little bit about what you’re doing?

Essentially, I’m taking eastern oysters – those are oysters that are native to Galveston – and putting them through a cold shock study. My goal is to determine how marine cold spells, or MSCs, affect their metabolic rate. For oysters, this measures how they consume oxygen and turn it into energy. I’m looking to see if there’s a difference between the control study and the cold study.

MSCs have become more frequent over the last several years, and understanding how they affect oysters is important to oyster farming here in Texas and for giving us clues into overall ocean health. 

Texas legalized oyster farming in 2019, so it’s still a new industry here, and Lone Star Oyster Company has generously donated all of the oysters for my research. I will hopefully be able to help identify challenges that local farms are facing, which, in turn, will allow them to improve oyster growth and survival.

How did you get started with your research? 

I’m part of the undergraduate research scholar program. I found out about it through Dr. Lene Petersen. She’s the head of the program, so when she mentioned it in one of her classes, I knew I wanted to give it a shot. 

There’s been a lot of research with heat spells here in Texas, and while cold studies have happened up north in places like Canada and Maine, not much has happened in our region. We know that heat waves can harm local oysters, but I’m hoping this research will show what happens with native oysters during extreme winter weather.

I had already been working with metabolic rates and using a respirometer in my classes and labs, so I wanted to try applying my studies to oysters. When I approached Dr. Petersen about it, I was like, “Hey, is it possible for me to do this?” 

She agreed to partner with me and has been a strong support throughout. The whole project has been an amazing collaborative experience for me.  

Daniel Kemp, a Ph.D. student that works directly under Dr. Petersen, has offered to help me run the respirometer and take photos of the oysters under the fancy microscope in the lab. 

Katie St. Clair from the Sea Life Facility and Blake Branson from Lone Star Oyster Company have also been incredibly helpful and great partners in this.

This sounds like a really cool opportunity. Is it what you want to do professionally after you graduate?

I definitely want to go into aquaculture and oyster farms after graduation. Right now, my professional experience is largely customer service based, but I want to transition into working in the marine biology field. Since I still have quite a bit of time left until graduation, I’m still considering my options, including maybe pursuing a master’s degree. 

One of the reasons I’m doing the undergraduate research scholar program is to try out formal research to see if it’s something I want to do in the future. It’s a great testing ground for me (as well as the oysters). 

What kind of challenges are you anticipating? 

An oyster’s insides are soft and delicate, while the outside is hard to protect it from danger. My primary concern is that during the cold shock, the oysters will seal their shells up to protect themselves, making it impossible to determine their metabolic rate. 

You mentioned earlier that oysters can be an indicator of ocean health. What does that mean? 

Galveston is a great example of this. Oysters are one of the main filtration systems of both the bay and ocean reefs in our region, and they provide a habitat for other marine life. Additionally, oyster reefs can absorb waves, which is especially important during storms, and they provide a buffer for erosion, protecting our shorelines and those living on the coast. 

While they can be a little annoying for folks that are trying to go fishing, oyster reefs are an important structure for everyone. Healthy oysters are vital to a healthy local ecosystem.