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.  At the time of this interview, Frank was self-employed as a commercial fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico; he began his career in 1991. He attended Howard II, Biloxi High School, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, and The University of Southern Mississippi. He enjoys sailing. He is president of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Fishermen’s Organization. On March 6, 2004, he married his wife Rebecca (born September 23, 1978) in Biloxi, Mississippi. At the time of this interview, they had four children, Kaitlyn Leigh Parker (born April 20, 2005), Patrick Eli Parker (born November 17, 2006), and twins Franklin Boyce Parker and Jesse Ray Parker (both born October 27, 2010). Parker believes that, “Positive things happen to positive people.”

Scope and Content Note:
He talks about safood industry on the Gulf Coast, shrimping, skimmer-frame nets, turtle excluder devices, inshore fishery, BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster of 2010, price of shrimp and diesel circa 2011, species of shrimp, Dyneema and other net-making materials, use of computers and GPS in shrimping, ecosystem changes, coastal erosion, marshes, wetlands, bulkheads, dead zone in Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi River, barrier islands, sea turtles, regulations, permits, Hurricane Katrina, BP?s Vessels of Opportunity program, soft corals, bycatch, imported shrimp, wild-caught shrimp, crabbing, Hurricane Rita, FEMA trailers, oyster industry, Bonnet Carre Spillway, freshwater diversion, Mississippi Gulf Coast Fishermen's Organization, Mississippi DMR, Jones Act, red tide, BP claims process, Corexit oil dispersant used by BP in 2010, conservation of fisheries.