There's good news for people who crave oysters out of Galveston Bay and the rest of the Texas coastline. An outbreak of red tide, which disrupted oyster harvesting at the beginning of oyster season in November, is no longer viewed as a threat.

The state of Texas had issued a ban on harvesting oysters, clams and mussels from Texas waters because of extremely high levels of algae growth blamed on the drought Those conditions caused contamination and made the shellfish dangerous to consume.

However, the red tide has dissipated for the most part and Galveston area restaurants and seafood markets are once again stocking local oysters instead of looking to Louisiana to stock their shelves and kitchens.

"A lot of Galvestonians and people on the Texas coast, our customers, they like the large oysters. They still have this sharp grind to them and it's the idea of eating something that's close to home," said Nicolas Gaido, the owner of Gaido's Galveston.

During the ban, many businesses say they suffered a drop off in profits.

"I've been in the business 13 years on the retail side of things. I've never seen it like that," said John Allex of Allexx's Seafood Market. "They use to harvest the oyster in Louisiana, put them on a truck and haul them to our county, then we would shuck them and unload them. Now, that's where the shucking goes on."

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will continue to monitor the water conditions and shellfish safety, however, officials tell KPRC Local 2 that the outlook appears good for both consumers and businesses.