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. Tran first worked as a cook in a restaurant, then began fishing and saved enough money to buy his first grocery store. He owned grocery stores in New Orleans for seventeen years until Hurricane Katrina in 2005. After his last store was destroyed, he began shrimping. At the time of the interview, Mr. Tran had been shrimping for four years. He has a wife and daughter who live in Vietnam. 

Scope and Content Note:
He discusses growing up in Kien Giang, Vietnam; learning to fish from father; family business of fishing; Vietnam War and difficult life under Communist rule; reeducation camp; decision to escape; journey to Thailand, then Hawaii to New Orleans; first jobs in America; shrimping to save money to own grocery store in New Orleans; losing store in Hurricane Katrina and returning to shrimping; spending 7 days on house roof then airlifted by helicopter after Katrina; typical shrimping trip; losses and impact since BP oil spill; no shrimp for boats operating near coast; assessment of industry future since oil spill; retraining program; challenges to industry (fuel cost, foreign imports), opinion of farm-raising fish; marketing catch; daughter and wife living in Vietnam (bought daughter a rice factory); opinion of BP oil spill response and claims process; support from MQVN CDC.