Renee Rusco is a commercial fisherman and cook originally from Mississippi. Born and raised in the Mississippi delta, Rusco left her home at the age of eighteen to seek adventure and see the world . She spent a significant amount of time in Houston, Texas before moving to the Pacific Northwest, specifically Portland, Oregon, Vancouver, Washington, and eventually settling in Astoria, Oregon where she lives on a fishing boat. Rusco has fished from Alaska down the Pacific Coast and has earned respect in her field by always pulling her weight.

Jason Link is Senior Scientist for Ecosystem-based Management for the National Marine Fisheries Service, still sitting at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole. Dr. Link earned his B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Central Michigan University. He then received his Ph.D. from Michigan Technological University. He began his career with NOAA NMFS at the Pascagoula Lab before moving to the Woods Hole Lab.

Gordon Waring was born on July 19, 1946 in Brooklyn, New York. He earned his B.A. in Biology from Humboldt State College, his Master’s from Bridgewater State College, and his Ph.D. in Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Waring began working for NOAA in 1973 and is a retired former team leader of the seal project within the Protected Species Branch at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Interview with Barbara Martineau.

Interview with John Stegeman.

Richard Haven Backus was a renowned biological oceanographer who spent his entire career at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). He was born in Rochester, NY, in 1922 and grew up in West Webster, NY, where he developed a love for nature and the outdoors. He graduated from The Harley School and went on to study at Dartmouth College, where he became involved in the Outing Club and served as a B-24 navigator during World War II. Backus pursued further education at Cornell University, earning an M.S. in Vertebrate Zoology and a Ph.D. in Ichthyology.

Interview with John Stegeman.

Edmond Watson is a former hydrographer and research associate who has been involved with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. In the early 1930s, Watson was appointed as a hydrographer on the International Passamaquoddy Fisheries Commission, a project aimed at studying the impact of dam construction on the herring fishery along the East Coast. During this time, Watson became acquainted with Dr. Bigelow, a professor at Harvard who had established the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Dr.

Interview with Susan Peterson.

Interview with Edmond Watson.