Oliver Goldsmith Brown IV is a retired oil field engineer who worked on a sailing, commercial fishing vessel as a teenager in the 1950s in the Gulf of Mexico. Brown was born on December 3, 1940, in Morton, Mississippi. He grew up in Morton and later moved to Mobile, Alabama, where he lived with his uncle and aunt. Brown's family had a history of involvement in the fishing industry, and he began working as a fisherman at a young age. 

Joseph Gregory Ladnier, who goes by Greg is owner/operator of Sea Pearl Seafood Co., Bayou La Batre, AL, which specializes in wild caught American shrimp.

Mr. Frank Parker is a lifelong commercial fisherman in Biloxi, Mississippi. He was born on July 4, 1973, in Biloxi, Mississippi, to Mr. Olin Boyce Parker (born April 13, 1944, in Pascagoula, Mississippi) and Mrs. Velma Elaine Terry Parker (born January 26, 1945). His father was a fisherman and a furniture refinisher from 1964 to 1999. His father’s family were farmers in the Mississippi Delta. His mother was a homemaker. His mother’s family were watermen, including fishermen, ship captains, and ship pilots.

Mr. William “Billy” Thiroux is a commercial fisherman on the Gulf Coast.  Thiroux was born on July 4, 1937, in Biloxi, Mississippi, to Mr. Louis Thiroux and Mrs. Katherine Pauli Thiroux. His father was a commercial fisherman. His mother worked in the seafood plants as a shrimp picker and a crab picker. His mother’s family were commercial fishermen. Mr. Thiroux finished the eleventh grade, and thereupon joined the US Navy.

Jennifer M. Buchanan is an educator at the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, serving as the education coordinator. She has been involved in oral history projects, particularly focused on capturing the experiences and knowledge of individuals with a deep understanding of the coastal areas. Buchanan's work involves collaborating with researchers to design and conduct studies to understand significant events and changes in the coastal environment.

Qui Lam is a Vietnamese-American shrimper living in Houma, Louisiana. Mr. Qui Lam was born in 1961, one of eight children, near the city of Rach Gia, South Vietnam. His father’s name was Bung Lam. His mother’s name was Hui Trang. Mr. Lam is of Chinese and Vietnamese descent. At a young age, Mr. Lam traveled with his father by boat to the market to help buy merchandise to resell in his stores, which were later taken by the Communist regime. After 1975, Mr. Lam began shrimping to earn a living, in addition to growing watermelon and potatoes.

Mr. Muoi Pham is a Vietnamese-American living in New Orleans who is a tuna boat deckhand. Pham was born, the youngest of ten children, on October 8, 1957, in Phan Thiet, Vietnam. His parents originated from North Vietnam; his father fled from the Viet Minh to Phan Thiet where he met Mr. Pham’s mother. Mr. Pham quit school to begin fishing with his father, as deckhands, at age eighteen in Phan Thiet, a fishing village. Mr. Pham was imprisoned in reeducation camp in 1977 but escaped after two weeks.

Khong Tran is a Vietnamese-American shrimper living in New Orleans. Mr. Khong Tran was born, one of nine children, on September 23, 1955, in Kien Giang Province, South Vietnam. He began fishing and shrimping with his father at the age of ten. His mother sold their catch at the local markets. In 1978 Mr. Tran escaped Vietnam by boat with friends to avoid being drafted to fight in Cambodia. He escaped with thirty to forty people toward Thailand and three months later made it to Hawaii, where he lived for one year before moving to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1980. Mr.

Ran Bui is a Vietnamese-American shrimper in Biloxi, Mississippi. Mr. Ran Bui was born in 1960, one of eleven children, and raised in the port city of Vung Tau in southern Vietnam. Mr. Bui’s parents are originally from Hai Phong in the north of Vietnam. His father, Canh Bui, was a member of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnamese Army) and a fisherman; his mother, Mau Thi Nguyen, fished with the family and worked for a seafood company processing oysters and shrimp. Mr. Bui began fishing with his father at age eleven.

Paul Latapie is a third-generation commercial fisherman who resides in Violet, St. Bernard Parish, La.