Mr. McIlwain Rogers is a commercial fisherman and restaurant owner on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Rogers was born September 19, 1946, in Escatawpa, Mississippi, to Mr. Mackie Rogers (born January 17, 1916, in Escatawpa, Mississippi) and Mrs. Lois Kelly Rogers (born in Claire, Mississippi). His father was the owner of a hardware store, a house builder, and a crabber. His father’s family from North Carolina were in the sawmill business. His mother was a welder at Ingalls Shipbuilders during World War II. Her family were farmers. On February 24, 1995, he married his wife Lawanda. They are the parents of Karen Lee Rogers Lyons (born in 1964), Laura Ann Rogers Rice (born in 1967), Kelly Amanda Nicole Rogers Hall (born in 1972), and Leann Rogers (born in 1981). Rogers is a commercial fisherman who owns a restaurant and a retail seafood store. He completed the tenth grade. He enjoys car racing and football in his spare time.

Scope and Content Note:
He talks about commercial fishing, multigenerational fishing family, boatbuilding, crabbing, catfish fishing, shrimping, fishing/shrimping equipment, finfish, oystering, gillnets, regulations, mullet-fishing, nets, Vietnamese fishermen, fishing out-of-state waters, BP Deepwater horizon oil spill, owning/running seafood restaurant, marketing seafood catches, processing seafood catches, typical day fishing at sea, Hurricane Katrina, Vessels of Opportunity, freshwater from rivers in Gulf of Mexico, claim/damages payment from BP, increasing fuel prices/decreasing shrimp prices, health of fisheries 2012, Gulf Coast Research Lab, needs of Gulf of Mexico fishermen.