On April 5, 2010, Dr. Dionne Hoskins interviewed Otis Hayward as part of the Georgia Black Fishermen oral history project. Otis comes from a long line of independent, nomadic commercial fishermen on both sides of his family. In his teenage years, he worked as a striker on his father’s boat and traveled far from his small hometown of Thunderbolt, Georgia—five miles southeast of Savannah, in Chatham County—to follow seasonally migrating shrimp along Florida’s Atlantic coastline.

Parker Poole, 31 years old at the time of the interview, runs a marine salvage and towing business and fishes commercially on the side in Portland, ME. Despite lobstering in high school, he did not log enough hours to meet the qualification criteria to receive a Maine lobster license, so he made the decision not to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time fisherman.

Patrick Fehily, 29 years old at the time of the interview, owns and manages several lobster, gillnet, and scallop boats in Point Pleasant, NJ. Pat did not grow up in a fishing family, but after working as a lobsterboat deckhand in high school and failing to light his spark at college, he decided that fishing was the life for him.

Patricia Mattera, 60, is married to retired fisherman Fred Mattera. Fred fished out of Point Judith, Rhode Island; he began fishing after taking a summer job during college and continued fishing until retiring in December 2011. He largely fished offshore, focusing on squid fisheries for the last 10 years of his career. Mrs. Mattera feels that regulations had been a source of stress in the fishing community for many years prior to the beginning sector management.

Peyton Mason, 23 years old at the time of his interivew, is an oyster and crab fisherman in Deep Creek, VA. Peyton didn't grow up fishing, but fell in love with it in 8th grade after watching other fishermen come in with their catch. It was not long before he obtained a waterman license, began harvesting oysters and crabs, and eventually built his way up to owning the F/V Emilie Virginia, a Chesapeake deadrise. But his ambitions don't stop there; Peyton has done stints on shrimping and scalloping boats to get exposure to fisheries in other areas, too.

Phil Ruhle, 37, is a commercial fisherman out of Point Judith, Rhode Island. His grandfather began fishing in the 1950s; his father and uncles also fished and his children now fish with him on occasion. He fishes for a broad variety of fish using a dragger, catching predominantly groundfish inshore in recent years. He is a member of the Sustainable Harvest Sector and is on the Board of Directors; his father, along with other fishermen, began developing the Sustainable Harvest Sector even prior to 2010 when sectors were put in place throughout New England. Mr.

On July 17, 2012, Dr.

On June 15, 2011 Dionne Hoskins interviewed Rebecca Bonds Bowen, better known as “Miss Sula,” as part of the Georgia Black Fishermen oral history project. Miss Sula was born in 1946 in Pin Point, Georgia—a small Gullah Geechee community founded in 1896, eleven miles southeast of Savannah, in Chatham County. Growing up, Miss Sula was often the primary caregiver for her younger siblings because her parents would leave early in the morning to either catch or pick crabs.

Richard "Rob" Walz, 50, a commercial fisherman out of Tiverton, RI, began fishing as a boy. Mr. Walz fishes offshore, targeting different species seasonally. He has been a member of the common pool since sector management began, because his sector allocation was too small. Mr. Walz finds that sector management often causes fishermen to target one species, whereas fishermen used to diversify and catch numerous different species in an effort to conserve less abundant fish.

On August 28, 2014, Dr.