Joe Kowalsky, 31 years old at the time of the interview, is an oyster farmer and fishermen in Milford, Bridgeport, and Stratford, CT. He owns and operates multiple boats, including the Sea Skimmer, LeClair, Mohawk, and a Carolina skiff. Joe is primarily focused on oyster farming but also engages in wild fisheries for additional income. He found his way to fishing after putting aside societal notions that there is no money to be made on the water.

Tim Birarelli, Tom Birarelli, Robbie Budds (ages 21, 18, and 21 at the time of the interview) are lobstermen in Beverly, MA. Tim and Tom grew up lobstering with their father, who passed away when they were in their teens. They continued running and eventually expanding the family fishing businesses, and they supply fresh seafood to their mother's restaurant. Robbie met Tim through a hockey league while in high school, and the two brothers helped him get set up with a lobster boat and taught him everything they know.

Alex Brown, twenty years old at the time of the interview, describes his life as a deckhand in Point Judith, RI. With the encouragement of a fisherman uncle, Alex has been fishing since he was 11 and has worked on various fishing boats, including lobster boats and draggers. He now works on lobster boats and draggers in Point Judith.

Kelsey Aiken, 29 years old at the time of the interview, is a fisherman and co-manager (along with his brother) of a fish packing house in Hatteras, NC founded by his father. The company focuses mainly on gillnet fishing for flounder and sells a range of seafood caught in the Pamlico Sound and the ocean to a variety of markets, including New York's Fulton Fish Market, Boston, Canada, California, and local outlets.

Scope and Content Note

Tommy Testaverde, 34 years old at the time of the interview, is captain of his family's dragger, the F/V Midnight Sun, in Gloucester, MA.

Scope and Content Note

Andrew Arnett, 26 years old at the time of the interview, is a captain of Jonah crab and scallop boats in New Bedford, MA. He has been fishing since age 16 and running boats since age 22. As one of the youngest captains in the fleet, he sees himself as one of a select few who are keeping fishing heritage alive.

Scope and Content Note

Ken Murgo, 31 years old at the time of his interview, is a diversified fisherman in Narragansett Bay, RI. With his father, Ken fishes for conchs, lobsters, quahogs, and a variety of different finfish on the F/V Johnny B. In his interview, he talks about his parents' expectations that he would enter medical school after college, his inevitable return to full-time fishing in spite of these expectations, and the interest he feels in fisheries science and cooperative research.

Scope and Content Note

Tori Thomas, 29 years old at the time of the interview, is a deckhand in Point Judith, RI. Despite growing up far from the coast with no exposure to fisheries, she got a job as a fisheries observer after college, and then decided to try her luck as a deckhand.

Scope and Content Note

Brendan Damm, 28 years old at the time of the interview, is a deckhand on lobster and gillnet boats in Montauk, NY. Despite growing up as the son of a fisherman, he never enjoyed fishing until he came back home from college with a new attitude and decided to make it his full-time occupation.

Scope and Content Note

Lenny Russo, 27 years old at the time of his interview, describes working as the relief captain of a fleet boat in Portland, ME, after growing up working on a family fishing boat in Gloucester MA. Lenny is also the owner-operator of a seasonal salmon gillnet vessel in Bristol Bay, AK. 

Scope and Content Note