Michael Fogarty was born in 1951 in Fairbanks, Alaska where his father was stationed in the Army during the Korean War. His parents returned to their native Rhode Island when he was six years old. He developed an interest in marine science which led to him pursing his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Rhode Island. Dr. Fogarty studied marine biology and earned his PhD degree at the URI School of Oceanography. Upon graduation, he began working at the Rhode Island Department of Environment Management with a focus on the lobster and crab fisheries.

He began working at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center on an exchange program and became a full time employees in 1980. He began his career working on stock assessments of summer flounder, Atlantic herring, and American lobster. . He then worked as Chief of the Food Web Dynamics Group.. In addition to his time at the Center, he also taught at the University of Rhode Island and the University of Maryland. Dr. Fogarty provides a rich description of his work. In addition, he gives a detailed description of the complexities of ecosystem-based fisheries management.

Interview contains discussions of: the history of ecosystem-based fisheries management, the impacts of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, intellectual conflicts between scientists and non-scientists in fisheries councils, issues related to pros and cons of managing via single species, current issues with misreported catches.