Thomas Gonzales is a retired commercial fisherman from St. Bernard, Louisiana.

Mr. Kha Van Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American shrimper living in New Orleans East. Nguyen was born in 1950 in Phat Diem, in the north of Vietnam. In 1954, when Vietnam was divided into North and South, he moved with his family first to Da Nang, then My Tho and Can Tho, finally settling in Vung Tau in Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam. Mr. Nguyen helped his father catch fish to sell to the market. When Mr. Nguyen was thirteen years old, his father died so he quit school to become a fisherman to help support his mother and four siblings. In 1969, at age eighteen, Mr.

Mr. Thomas J. Schultz Jr. is a retired commercial fisherman in Biloxi, Mississippi. He was born on October 22, 1932, in Biloxi, Mississippi, to Mr. Thomas J. Schultz Sr. (born June 25, 1907, in Bon Secour, Alabama) and Mrs. Ophelia A. Quigley Schultz (born November 25, 1908, in Biloxi, Mississippi). His father was a fisherman and a boatbuilder. His father’s paternal lineage was Danish. His maternal lineage was Mississippi Native American. His mother was a housewife who also worked in the seafood processing industry.

Nicholas Alfonso was born on May 23, 1965, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Jerry and Ramona Alfonso. He is married to Lisa Christofi Alfonso, and they have two children, Kristy and Misty. Alfonso is a commercial fisherman and a member of the St. Bernard Coastal Advisory Board and the Knights of Columbus. He was interviewed by Stephanie Scull-DeArmey for the University of Southern Mississippi Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage on April 24, 2012. Alfonso currently resides in Louisiana and has been a commercial fisherman for a significant period.

Leslie Hood is a commercial fisherman in Long Beach, Mississippi.

Reverend Daniel Quan Nguyen was born, one of five children, on July 15, 1941, in Tay Ninh Province (east of Saigon), South Vietnam. His parents were farmers and his father died when he was just a year old. Reverend Nguyen attended high school and university in Saigon, studying science and law, then becoming a high school math teacher. From 1968 to 1975, he served as an infantry commander in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnamese Army). He was stationed with the Fourth Battalion Regiment of the Seventh Division in the Mekong Delta.

Lloyd “Wimpy” Serigne Lloyd Serigne is a retired fisherman from St. Bernard, Louisiana. He was born on March 3, 1940, to John Serigne (born on Delacroix Island, Louisiana, in 1893) and Emily Perez Serigne (born on Delacroix Island, Louisiana, about 1900). His father was a commercial fisherman. In his family of origin, Spanish was spoken, which Serigne remembers and speaks. Serigne began fishing as a child with his father, and he fished commercially on a part-time basis, in the Louisiana wetlands, throughout his life.

Mr. Gerald William Bosarge was born on November 13, 1934, in Pecan, Mississippi, to Mr. Charles Bosarge and Mrs. Bosarge (born Saksa, in Finland). He is married to Mrs. Harriet Janice Zirlott (born in Coden, Alabama on June 27, 1945). They have two children, Gerald William Bosarge Jr. and Lori Ann Bosarge. At the time of this interview, Mr. Bosarge was retired from commercial fishing, and after forty years of fishing for a living, he currently fishes for fun and sustenance. He is from a multi-generational fishing family, with ancestors who fished on both sides of his family. 

Cuc Huynh is a Vietnamese-American shrimper and tuna fisherman, living in New Orleans East. Mr. Cuc Huynh was born in 1964, one of nine children, near Phu Hai in Binh Thuan Province, South Vietnam. His father’s name was Tich Huynh and his mother’s name was Em Thi Phan. Tich Huynh served as a soldier in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnamese Army). Mr. Huynh learned to fish from his father when he was thirteen years old. His mother bought and sold fish in town.

Reverend Suong Ngoc Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American living in Biloxi, Mississippi, serving the Vietnamese community, there, many of whom work in the fisheries system. Nguyen was born, one of four children, in 1944 in Cambodia (to Vietnamese parents), but was raised in Tay Ninh Province in South Vietnam. Her grandfather was a leader of the Cao Dai religious group in Tay Ninh Province. Her father sold goods in a market and disappeared one day in 1946 during the French-Viet Minh war.