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.

Mr. William W. Walker is a resident of the Gulf Coast. At the time of this interview he was Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. Walker was born on September 16, 1945, in Hammond, Louisiana, to Mr. and Mrs. William Byrd Walker. Mr. Walker attended Hammond High School, Southeastern Louisiana University for his bachelor’s degree, and Mississippi State University for his master’s and doctoral degrees, graduating in 1972. He married Sharon H.

Mr. Edmond Anthony Boudreaux Jr. was born in 1949 to Edmond Boudreaux Sr. and Nita Mae Thomas Boudreaux. He is the third of eight children. He is married to Virginia L. Bertucci Boudreaux, and they have three sons, Edmond Boudreaux III, Brandon Boudreaux, and Marcus Boudreaux. Boudreaux is a 1967 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Biloxi, Mississippi. He was an AT&T service technician from 1973 until 2010, when he retired.

Mr. Clyde Leslie Brown was born July 1, 1932, in Pecan, Mississippi, to Nathaniel Richard Brown (born November 22, 1901, in Canoe, Alabama) and Mary Edna Stork Brown (born February 28, 1906, in Pecan, Mississippi). His father was a farmer who ran a general store in Canoe, Alabama, and his mother was a housewife. His mother’s father was a commercial fisherman in Jackson County, Mississippi, who ran a general store in Pecan, Mississippi. On September 4, 1955, he married Annie Marie Jones.

Khang V. Dang is a Vietnamese-American shrimper living in Biloxi, Mississippi. Mr. Khang V. Dang was born April 20, 1954, one of eleven children, in the port city of Vung Tau in southern Vietnam. Mr. Dang’s parents originated from the Go Cong district in the Mekong Delta region. He learned fishing and net making from his father and grandfather; his mother cooked and baked and sold her goods, along with fish and shrimp, in the market. Mr. Dang joined the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in 1971, serving as security for his home area of Vung Tau until 1975. Mr.

Kim Dai Dinh is a Vietnamese-American, living in East Biloxi, who worked in seafood processing plants.

Mrs. Hang Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American, the wife of a shrimper, and a resident of East Biloxi, Mississippi. She was the only child of Binh Nguyen and Nhung Nguyen, born in 1968 in Can Tho, South Vietnam. Her father, who passed away in Seattle, Washington in 2009, served in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnamese Army). Her mother worked in the home. After the fall of South Vietnam, Mrs. Nguyen’s father was sent to reeducation camp. It was then that her mother had to go to work selling fish, coffee, and fabrics in different places.

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.