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.

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.

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.

Nick Collins is an oysterman in Golden Meadow, Louisiana, who owns Collins Oyster Company.

Mike Le is a Vietnamese-American shrimper living in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Mr. Mike Le was born in 1953 near the town of Rach Gia in the Kien Giang Province of South Vietnam, where his family had a coconut and rice farm. In addition to farming, his father taught martial arts.  Mr. Le escaped from Vietnam by boat with his uncle, cousins, and others, totally fifty-two people, in 1978. After spending five months in Pulau Tengah, Malaysia, he landed in Lawton, Oklahoma in 1979. Soon after, Mr.

Mrs. Hoa Thi Pham is a Vietnamese-American living in Biloxi, Mississippi, who made nets for a living in her native land, Vietnam.  She was born in 1953 in Duc Pho, South Vietnam. In 1966 she went to live temporarily with her grandfather’s brother in Vung Tau to be protected from the dangerous fighting in her home region. Mrs. Pham’s father grew rice and potatoes on their farm and her mother had a convenience store. Mrs. Pham had one younger brother. She married Mr. Luu Thai, a shrimper who was from her village. Mrs.

Thieu Tran is a Vietnamese-American tuna fisherman living in New Orleans. Tran was born, one of eleven children, in 1960 in Vung Tau, South Vietnam. His parents sent him to live in a seminary during the Vietnam War, returning home in 1974. Mr. Tran’s father was a fisherman and also joined the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnamese Army) providing security for their town. Mr. Tran’s mother helped sell the fish catch when it came in. Mr.