Based in Waterford, Connecticut, lobster fisherman Michael Theiler initially worked for a pharmaceutical company after college. He left that industry to pursue his passion for being on the water. He was a successful lobster fisherman during the 1980s boom and into the late 1990s when the lobster began to die off.  He has been actively involved in the politics and policies surrounding fishing and lobster industries and has witnessed the difficulties fishermen have faced and adaptations implemented to try to save the lobster fishing industry.

On May 6, 2020, Cassidy Martin interviewed Kelly Shannon for the Maritime Studies Capstone Seminar Oral History Project. Kelly Shannon is an environmental analyst with the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Aquaculture. Shannon’s work is focused on shellfish management, encompassing tasks such as water quality testing, shellfish meat analysis, and pollution source identification. She works closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, state and local health departments, and other relevant agencies to ensure consumers' safety of shellfish products.