Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History

  • Collection DOI:
    Principal Investigator:
    Louis M. Kyriakoudes
  • NOAA's Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History documents the experience of people living in Gulf  of Mexico  oil-spill-affected fishing communities. The oral history data complements other social and economic data about the spill collected by NOAA and other governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations.

Interviewee Collection Sort ascending Description Interviewer Date of Interview Location of Interview Affiliation
Peter S. Floyd Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History

Peter Floyd was born in Mayport, Florida, and has spent his career as a commercial fisherman in Pascagoula Mississippi.

Barbara Hester, Louis Kyriakoudes Pascagoula, MS NOAA-NMFS, University of Southern Mississippi - Northern Gulf Institute
Hang Nguyen Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History

Mrs. Hang Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American, the wife of a shrimper, and a resident of East Biloxi, Mississippi. She was the only child of Binh Nguyen and Nhung Nguyen, born in 1968 in Can Tho, South Vietnam. Her father, who passed away in Seattle, Washington in 2009, served in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnamese Army). Her mother worked in the home. After the fall of South Vietnam, Mrs. Nguyen’s father was sent to reeducation camp. It was then that her mother had to go to work selling fish, coffee, and fabrics in different places.

Linda VanZandt, Angel Truong Phan Biloxi, MS NOAA-NMFS, University of Southern Mississippi - Northern Gulf Institute
Joseph D. Jewell Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History

Mr. Joseph D. Jewel (b. 1957) is deputy director of the Office of Marine Fisheries at the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. He was born in 1959 on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the small fishing community in east Biloxi known as the Point. His parents were Mr. Thomas Jewell and Mrs. Betty Jane Seymour Jewell. He was the second son in a family of six sons and one daughter. Following the return of his parents to his father’s ancestral home in Oregon, Joe was raised by his maternal grandparents in a commercial fishing family.

Barbara Hester Biloxi, MS NOAA-NMFS, University of Southern Mississippi - Northern Gulf Institute
Thomas Gonzales, Sr. Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History

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

Barbara Hester, Louis Kyriakoudes St. Bernard Parish, LA NOAA-NMFS, University of Southern Mississippi - Northern Gulf Institute
Kha Van Nguyen Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History

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.

Linda VanZandt, Khai Nguyen New Orleans, LA NOAA-NMFS, University of Southern Mississippi - Northern Gulf Institute
Thomas J. Schultz Jr. Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History

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.

Barbara Hester Biloxi, MS NOAA-NMFS, University of Southern Mississippi - Northern Gulf Institute
Nick Alfonso Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History

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.

Stephanie Scull-DeArmey Hattiesburg, MS NOAA-NMFS, University of Southern Mississippi - Northern Gulf Institute
Leslie Hood Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History

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

Barbara Hester Long Beach, MS NOAA-NMFS, University of Southern Mississippi - Northern Gulf Institute
Daniel Quan Nguyen Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History

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.

Linda VanZandt, Angel Truong Phan Biloxi, MS NOAA-NMFS, University of Southern Mississippi - Northern Gulf Institute
Lloyd "Wimpy" Serigne Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History

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.

Barbara Hester, Stephanie Scull-DeArmey St. Bernard Parish, LA NOAA-NMFS, University of Southern Mississippi - Northern Gulf Institute