James Lopes, fifty-six years old, has been involved in the fishing industry since he was a teenager. He began his career as a ‘Night Rider,’ then had his own business, Ocean Obsession, Ltd, and currently works for Norpel as a production manager. He discusses the rewards and challenges of working on the waterfront, a typical day at Norpel,  the “cast of characters” he has worked with throughout the years, and the changes he has seen in the industry and the New Bedford area over the years.

James Tomasia was born in the Azores and immigrated to the United States when he was a boy. He talks about his life growing up, how he became a lumper, what a lumper does, and about the changes he has seen.

James Ulysses Carter is an 82-year-old African American male born in Northern County, Virginia. He is a retired commercial fisherman and a musician with the Northern Neck Chantey Singers. Carter's career in the fishing industry began after he completed the eleventh grade. He became a captain in 1963 and served in that role for two years before returning to the position of mate. He retired from fishing in 1989.

Jameson “Jamie” Bell was born October 15, 1971 in Fort Lawton Beach, Florida and is currently employed as a Marine Electronics Technician at Chris Electronics in New Bedford, MA. In this interview, he discusses his past in the electronics field, his feelings about his job including his favorite and least favorite aspects of it. He shares how he interacts with fishermen, captains, customers and coworkers, and how his job is a good fit for his personality.

Jameson Bell works with marine electronics. He is paid hourly and is not part of a union. He explains the types of electronics in a wheelhouse, how navigational electronics have changed over the years, and how that has affected the fishing industry. He explains the costs of navigational equipment and the life expectancy of various marine equipment, such as the magnetron. He also discusses the different types of people he meets on the waterfront, including ship captains, fishermen, and other workers. He discusses the drug use on the waterfront.

Janice Marshall is a lifelong resident of Smith Island, Maryland, a small island located in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. Born and raised in a family with a long history of working the water, Marshall's life has been deeply intertwined with the island and its maritime traditions. Her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all watermen, and her father died while working the water. Marshall herself has worked as a crab picker and waterman's wife.

Jay Speakman is a former fisherman with a rich history in the fishing industry. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Speakman considers Maine his true home, where he has roots going back several generations. His early experiences in fishing began as a child during summers spent on Little Cranberry Island, Maine, where he was introduced to lobster fishing. His career later took him to British Columbia and Alaska in the 1970s, where he engaged in various fishing activities including gill netting herring roe, long lining and seining for halibut, set netting for salmon and King Crabbing.

Jeff Cook is one of the owners of New Bedford Welding Supply in New Bedford, MA. He studied welding in high school and college and has worked for his family run business from a young age, starting with painting the gas cylinders and working his way up to customer sales.  He discusses the role of New Bedford Welding Supply in the fishing industry, the changes in welding equipment over the years, the role of his family members in the family business, and the positive and negative aspects of his job.

Jenifer Sanabria emigrated from Honduras to New Bedford, MA nine years ago and currently works in a packing line at a seafood factory. The company works with a variety of fish including filleted codfish, the process starts from when the boats arrive with the product, and they are processed, filleted and packaged for distribution across New England. She has a family back home that she has committed to providing to for the rest of her life. 

Jim Ruhle is a third-generation fisherman from Long Island, New York, born in 1948. He spent most of his life in Wanchese, North Carolina, where he continued his family's fishing tradition. Ruhle has two sons, one of whom works with him full-time, and the other part-time, making them the fourth generation in this fishing lineage. Ruhle's family has a rich history in the fishing industry, with his father pioneering the longline swordfish fishery in North Carolina. Ruhle has worked on various fishing boats, including a ninety-foot steel boat he now owns.