A participant may be a commercial, recreational, or subsistence fishermen or others involved in services that support these activities.  Some examples are businessmen who furnish gear, bait, ice, or fuel; people who build and repair fishing boats; processors and dealers; people who have worked in fish processing factories or plants; and fisheries managers and scientists. Other examples are people who have been married to fishermen or women or to people involved in related businesses, or who grew up in fishing families.  Interviewers and those who donate existing collections are also participants. Schools are eligible to be participants, and student participation is valued.  The project handbook includes information for classroom teachers and other marine educators who want to develop projects. You can download SIX EASY STEPS here.

Take These Six Easy Steps...

1.  Contact the Voices from the Fisheries Project  (required)
2.  Obtain a Project Name and Password  (required)
3.  Print the Release Forms (required forms)
4.  Prepare for the interview  
5.  Conduct the interview
6.  Upload your collection to the NOAA Voices from the Fisheries Database
   

* PDF files require Acrobat reader, freely available on the Web

Step 1: Contact the Voices from the Fisheries Project 

Download and fill out the Voices from the Fisheries Project Information Form. 
Send to mailto:Voices@noaa.gov with the completed Project Information Form attached to the email.  We will contact you to discuss your project.  When your project is approved for inclusion on the VFF Database, proceed to Step 2.

 Step 2: Obtain a Project Name (ID) and Password (required)

You will receive a project name (ID) and password by email when your project or collection is approved for inclusion in the VFF Database. The ID and password allow you to place fisheries oral histories on the Voices from the Fisheries Database. 

Step 3:  Print the Release Forms (required forms)

If you are starting a new project to collect fisheries oral histories to put on the Voices from the Fisheries Database, use the forms downloaded here to obtain permission from the person you interview.  You must also obtain a signed release form from everyone who participates in the interview.  There are separate forms for the person being interviewed, and for the person doing the interviewing. You will be required to warrant that you have obtained signed release forms from interview participants before you can add their interview to the VFF Database. 

If you are submitting a interviews that were collected previously for other purposes, you will be required to warrant that you have obtained permission from the interviewees to add their interviews to the VFF Database. 

If an interviewee is deceased or cannot be located to gain permission to add their interview to the VFF Database, the person submitting the interview will be required to warrant that they have made a "due diligence" effort to contact the person. Due diligence means trying to reach the person through the mail at their last know address and receiving a returned, undeliverable letter; trying to contact them by phone and/or email at their last known phone number or email address and finding that the numbers or addresses no longer exist or have been assigned to others; and by trying to contact them through their relatives.  

If the person uploading the interview is not willing to warrant that they have obtained permission, or have made a due diligence effort, they will not be able to add the interview to the VFF Database. 

Step 4: Prepare for the interview 

The Voices from the Fisheries Handbook includes information of how to develop projects and conduct oral history interviews.  Several oral history web sites are available that offer general advice on conducting and recording interviews, e.g.,  http://www.folklife.si.edu/resources/pdf/interviewingguide.pdf .  If you are developing a new project and want to learn more about all aspects of oral history interviewing take time to review the VFF Handbook and look at other oral history sites.  We have included some general references on oral history interviewing in the Bibliography included on this site.  Review the List of Topics used identify interview content when entering an interview into the VFF Database to get ideas about creating orienting questions for new interviews. The topics are used by the search function to locate interviews by content area. 

Step 5: Conduct the interview
:
The Voices from the Fisheries Handbook includes information on how to develop projects and conduct oral history interviews.  Several oral history web sites are available that offer general advice on conducting and recording interviews, e.g., http://www.folklife.si.edu/resources/pdf/interviewingguide.pdf .  If you are developing a new project and want to learn more about interviewing, take time to review the VFF Handbook and look at other oral history sites.  We have also included some references on oral history interviewing in the Bibliography included on this site. Review the List of Topics used by the VFF Database search function to locate interviews in the database when someone is looking for interviews that cover topics that interest them.

Step 6:  Upload your collection to the NOAA Voices from the Fisheries Database

Instructions to put your interview on VFF are available in Voices from the Fisheries Database Users Guide.  It will guide you through the process of uploading an interview to the VFF Database.