Reverend Daniel Quan Nguyen was born, one of five children, on July 15, 1941, in Tay Ninh Province (east of Saigon), South Vietnam. His parents were farmers and his father died when he was just a year old. Reverend Nguyen attended high school and university in Saigon, studying science and law, then becoming a high school math teacher. From 1968 to 1975, he served as an infantry commander in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnamese Army). He was stationed with the Fourth Battalion Regiment of the Seventh Division in the Mekong Delta.

Reverend Suong Ngoc Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American living in Biloxi, Mississippi, serving the Vietnamese community, there, many of whom work in the fisheries system. Nguyen was born, one of four children, in 1944 in Cambodia (to Vietnamese parents), but was raised in Tay Ninh Province in South Vietnam. Her grandfather was a leader of the Cao Dai religious group in Tay Ninh Province. Her father sold goods in a market and disappeared one day in 1946 during the French-Viet Minh war.

Mr. Thang "Peter" Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American, former shrimper, now community liaison for Mississippi State University Coastal Research and Extension Center.  He was born in 1967 in Vung Tau, South Vietnam. His parents were fisherfolk and told him the story of escaping Vietnam in the family boat two weeks before the Communists took over South Vietnam, when Mr. Nguyen was just eight years old.

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.

Mrs. Hoa Thi Pham is a Vietnamese-American living in Biloxi, Mississippi, who made nets for a living in her native land, Vietnam.  She was born in 1953 in Duc Pho, South Vietnam. In 1966 she went to live temporarily with her grandfather’s brother in Vung Tau to be protected from the dangerous fighting in her home region. Mrs. Pham’s father grew rice and potatoes on their farm and her mother had a convenience store. Mrs. Pham had one younger brother. She married Mr. Luu Thai, a shrimper who was from her village. Mrs.

Earl Ross is a commercial shrimper in the Gulf of Mexico. Ross was born on December 13, 1947, in Biloxi, Mississippi, to Mr. Wildon Ross (born April 22, 1922, in Biloxi) and Mrs. Ruth Wallis Ross) born September 27, 1929). His father was a police officer, taxicab owner, and shrimper in Biloxi. His mother was a bookkeeper. His father’s family were shrimpers who owned local businesses, including grocery stores, clothing stores, and taxicabs. His mother’s family were shrimpers and bakers. On November 17, 1968, he married his wife, Charlene (born December 14, 1947).

Mr. Walter Eley Ross Sr. is a retired commercial fisherman on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  He was born on March 16, 1924, in Biloxi, Mississippi,to Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Ross. His father was a commercial fisherman, house builder, and boat builder. His mother was a housewife. Mr. Ross began fishing with his father commercially when he was a teenager, and he continued in that profession for fifty-three years. Ross also served in the US Air Force, achieving the rank of sergeant. He is a Catholic.

Mr. Joseph D. Jewel (b. 1957) is deputy director of the Office of Marine Fisheries at the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. He was born in 1959 on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the small fishing community in east Biloxi known as the Point. His parents were Mr. Thomas Jewell and Mrs. Betty Jane Seymour Jewell. He was the second son in a family of six sons and one daughter. Following the return of his parents to his father’s ancestral home in Oregon, Joe was raised by his maternal grandparents in a commercial fishing family.

Mr. Thomas J. Schultz Jr. is a retired commercial fisherman in Biloxi, Mississippi. He was born on October 22, 1932, in Biloxi, Mississippi, to Mr. Thomas J. Schultz Sr. (born June 25, 1907, in Bon Secour, Alabama) and Mrs. Ophelia A. Quigley Schultz (born November 25, 1908, in Biloxi, Mississippi). His father was a fisherman and a boatbuilder. His father’s paternal lineage was Danish. His maternal lineage was Mississippi Native American. His mother was a housewife who also worked in the seafood processing industry.

Mr. Tuan Tran is a Vietnamese-American shrimper living in Biloxi, Mississippi. Tran was born on July 28, 1963, one of seven children, in Nha Trang, South Vietnam. Mr. Tran’s father died in battle, serving in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, when Mr. Tran was twelve years of age. Upon his father’s death, Mr. Tran quit school to help his mother make a living to support selling produce and other goods in the market. In 1986 Mr. Tran was out fishing when he made a sudden decision to escape Vietnam when approached by others who were escaping.