John Supan, a marine biologist with the Louisiana Sea Grant of Louisiana State University, holds a sample as he checks oysters Aug. 9 in his hatchery in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Grand Isle, La.

Grand Isle, La. ? Biologist John Supan thinks he has developed what may be the holy grail for oyster lovers: a hardy breed of the delectable shellfish that stays fat enough for consumers to eat throughout the year.

And unlike many oysters across the Gulf Coast, ruined by BP’s massive oil spill and the fresh water poured in to fight it, Supan’s oysters are all alive.

Now, nearly four months after the spill, Supan’s oysters may offer the Gulf oyster industry a chance for a better long-term recovery. But his special breed of modified oysters, which some say are prohibitively expensive, could be a hard sell to an industry reeling from the BP disaster.

Most oystermen agree that few oysters will be harvested from the Gulf Coast in the next year or two, signaling a potential calamity for shucking houses, oyster farmers and people who love a half dozen oysters on the half shell. As much as 65 percent of the nation’s oysters come from the Gulf.

Oysters are particularly susceptible to pollution, taking longer than fish or shrimp to clear oil contamination from their bodies.

Supan’s oysters are bred for performance, making them more fit to deal with viruses and other contaminants. Being sterile, they don’t go through the stress of reproduction, so they stay fat and juicy all year round. Supan says his oysters are sweet, plump and meaty in summertime when other oysters become thin and watery.

But the most crucial advantage this year was their mobility.

Unlike the vast majority of oysters in the Gulf, which spend their lives on the bottoms of bays and sounds, Supan’s oysters dangle in the water in cages at a hatchery on the inland side of this island.

When the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20 just a few dozen miles from his hatchery, the 57-year-old Louisiana State University oyster biologist evacuated his broods to a research hatchery in Alabama and a wildlife preserve in western Louisiana. Then he brought them back.

“In my opinion, this is the most important brood of oysters in the history of the Gulf of Mexico,” Supan says. “But you know, you ask an oysterman that and they will say, ‘Huh?”‘

He said the day is coming when all the Gulf’s oystermen will know what he’s talking about.

For three decades, Supan has been developing new oysters by mixing up their chromosomes in a process known as triploid production. He breeds a rare oyster that has extra chromosomes with a normal oyster and produces a sterile hybrid. The process is common on the East and West coasts but still untried in the Gulf, besides Supan’s batch.

“I don’t know if it’s the future with a capital ‘THE,’ but it’s very important,” said Bill Walton, an Auburn University shellfish biologist. “It can give you a faster growing oyster. It cuts down production time and it does seem to solve the problem of ‘water bellies’ in the summer when oysters spawn and you have a tired, thin oyster.”

“For the long-term viability of oysters in Louisiana what (the hatchery) is doing is the kind of pioneer work,” said Mike Voisin, an oyster processor and leader in the Louisiana oyster industry.