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.

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. She discusses why Woods Hole was chosen for the site of the Fisheries lab, the interaction with local businessmen. Peggy's memories of her childhood include trips on collecting boats (specimens for MBL). Dr. Graham became Director in 1951.

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.

Oral history interview with James Hahn. 

James Nadler discusses lake sturgeon spearing construction with the interviewer. James also discusses his experiences sturgeon spearing and changes in spearing over time. Interviewer identity unknown.

James Yamamoto, born in 1936, hails from Terminal Island, California. His early life was shaped by the local Japanese fishing community and his father's grocery store. The onset of World War II marked a period of upheaval for Yamamoto and his family, as they were subjected to internment along with many other Japanese Americans. This experience had a profound impact on his family's ship chandlery business. Post-war, Yamamoto witnessed and adapted to the evolution of communication within the shipping industry.

Jane De Lay is a female fisherman who has been fishing since 2003. She started in a conservation as a environmentalist for Save Our Shores, working on conserving and protecting the ocean from pollution and habitat protection, one day she was invited to go fishing and she was hooked. She specializes in salmon, crab, rockfish, albacore, and sometimes squid and goes fish trolling. She fishes in a boat that's 34 feet, single hull, and it's made out of fiber glass. When she fishes for salmon she only catches Chinook salmon in California waters.

Jane De Lay is a female fisherman who has been fishing since 2003. She started in a conservation as a environmentalist for Save Our Shores, working on conserving and protecting the ocean from pollution and habitat protection, one day she was invited to go fishing and she was hooked. She specializes in salmon, crab, rockfish, albacore, and sometimes squid and goes fish trolling. She fishes in a boat that's 34 feet, single hull, and it's made out of fiber glass. When she fishes for salmon she only catches Chinook salmon in California waters.

Oral history interview with Janice Kahn.