Gretchen Tostrup was interviewed for the Port of Los Angeles Centennial Oral History Project. Tostrup, born in San Pedro in 1955, comes from a family deeply connected to the maritime and longshore industries in the area. Her maternal grandfather was a ship chandler, and her paternal grandfather was a founding member of Local 13, a longshore union. Tostrup herself worked in her grandfather’s chandlery and later became one of the first women to work on the waterfront as a longshore casual.

On September 25, 1984, Robert Livingston interviewed Harry Edward Handy, commonly known as "Buck," for the Fishing and Fisheries Oral History Collection. Born in 1911 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Handy grew up in a family deeply rooted in the local fishing community, with his father working for the Bureau of Fisheries. Handy himself had a long and varied career in the fishing industry, beginning in the 1930s and continuing through the 1940s and 1950s.  Buck's first experiences with commercial fishing began in 1942 with a trip on Kenneth Shepherd's boat Betsy C.

Oral history interview with Haruye Sakamoto.

Helen DiMaggio was born in 1919 in Los Angeles and raised in San Pedro. Her father, originally from what was then Austria and later became Yugoslavia, traveled the world as a young man with a sea captain before settling in Los Angeles. Helen's mother, who came from Mexico, met Helen's father in Los Angeles, where she worked as a waitress. The couple married in 1918 and moved to San Pedro shortly thereafter. Helen's father established a wholesale fish business in San Pedro in 1921, named Star Fisheries, which became a family enterprise.

On September 27, 1989, Henry Gourdine was interviewed about his extensive experiences in the fishing industry. Gourdine discusses a range of topics, including the seasonal cycles of crab and shad fishing, the challenges of maintaining and adapting fishing equipment, and the evolution of net design and techniques. He reflects on his family’s influence on his fishing practices and recounts detailed observations about crab health, fishing costs, and the environmental changes affecting local waters.

Henry Klimm is an old-time fisherman from Woods Hole, best known for his draggers called the Captain Bills. He has been a part of the fishing industry in Woods Hole for many years and has extensive knowledge and memories of the old fish market owned by Sam Cahoon. Henry has been fishing since the 1930s and has experienced the ups and downs of the industry. He has primarily fished for yellowtail flounder and has witnessed changes in fishing techniques and equipment. Henry is known for his hard work and dedication to the fishing profession.

The Rev. Herb Bennerfield presides over the annual Blessing of the Fleet in Delcambre. He describes what the shrimp festival and fishery mean to one small town.

On July 28, 1975, Elsa Keil Sichel interviewed Dr. Herbert Graham, Bertha Veeder Hill, and Peggy Clark Kelley for the Fishing and Fisheries Oral History Collection at the Woods Hole Library in Massachusetts. The interview was part of a historical conversation series at the Woods Hole Library, focusing on the history of the Fisheries. The main topic is the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries in Woods Hole. The first speaker is Peggy Clark Kelley. She speaks of her grandfather, Edward Linton, who came to Woods Hole with Director Spencer Baird in 1882 when Linton was a student at Yale.

See, in the latter part of my grandmother being at the lighthouse, President Roosevelt was off the backshore in a government boat on a vacation.  They told him about her being the only woman lighthouse keeper in the country.  He said he would like to meet her.  So, they brought him around, around Provincetown and into Wellfleet Harbor.  They rode him ashore.  He shook hands with my grandmother.

Irene Almeida was born on August 20th, 1929, in her family home in San Pedro, California, on 18th Street. A midwife attended her birth, as was common at the time. Her father, a small fishing boat owner, was out at sea when she was born. By the time she was born, her mother, who had married at 15, was 19 and found it challenging to take care of three children, prompting her father to eventually switch from fishing to longshoring for a living. Irene's parents were immigrants from Madeira Island, a volcanic island off the coast of Africa.