Frank Tursi is a Brooklyn, New York native who grew up with a deep appreciation for the coastal environment. His early experiences fishing and exploring the local geography of Brooklyn sparked his interest in coastal issues and the environment. Tursi's family moved to North Carolina due to shifts in the garment industry. He pursued Geology studies at East Carolina University and was involved with The Fountainhead newspaper during his tenure there.

Myrtle Gordonier is the widow of Charlie Johnson, Jr., the son of the one-time owner (Charles Johnson, Sr.) of the oyster schooner Cashier. She has deep historical ties to the Cashier, a significant boat, and the local oyster industry. She was married to the son of the owner of the Cashier, which places her at the heart of the oyster harvesting operations central to the area's economy.

Tracey Bowen, the wife of a fisherman, describes what it was like when her husband became a fisherman.

Project Leaders: Lisa L. Colburn and Kate E. Yentes
Date Collection Completed: On going
Location: www.voices.nmfs.noaa.gov
Geographic Location: Locations across New England

Interview topics include background and how participant began fishing, social ties, Joint Venture fishing, multi-regional fishing, Kodiak history, and changes in fisheries management.

Interview topics include how participant began fishing, social ties, fishing changes over time, crab fishing business and management changes (IFQs), halibut fishing management changes (IFQs), and changes in Kodiak.

Interview topics include background and how participant became engaged in fishing, changes in fisheries over time, changes in fisheries management, social ties, strategies for finding crew and changes in crew, Kodiak history, rationalization of crab fishery, and entry opportunities for fishermen.

The anonymous narrator is a seasoned fisherman with a rich history in the fishing industry. His journey into the industry began in 1957 when he was just thirteen years old, following his father's transition from logging to fishing. Over the years, he has gained extensive experience in various types of fishing, including troll fishery, bottom fishery, and crabbing. He has also owned several boats, some of which he built himself, and has fished in various locations including Alaska, Oregon, California, and Washington. Currently, he operates two boats for shrimping and one for crabbing.

Steven Wilkes, 65, is a retired commercial fisherman out of Newport, Rhode Island. Mr. Wilkes fished with his grandfather as a boy and began fishing commercially at age 18, buying his first boat at age 29 after working as a teacher and deckhand for a few years. Though he in no longer an active fisherman, he still lives on his boat and maintains a permit in the common pool. Mr. Wilkes did mostly day trips as a fisherman, but worked patrolling telecommunications cables prior to retiring from fisheries. He does not have a positive impression of sectors or government involvement in business.

"My grandfather was a fisherman. His father was a whaler." Stephen Fougere learned to become a fisherman from his father, a day dragger in Newport, R.I. Mr. Fougere left school at age sixteen to go fishing and became a captain of a fishing boat by age eighteen. He provides detailed information about the fishing industry in Newport R.I. from the 1930's to the present -- the various fisheries which have comprised the industry, the people involved in it, boats and equipment used, grounds fished, and changes that have taken place which continue to affect the industry in important ways. Mr.

While she was in her early twenties, Ellen Kaplan worked in the fishing industry for approximately two years. This included work on offshore lobster boats, an offshore scallop boat, and an offshore dragger. Her manuscript contains valuable information about life and work at sea, the life style of working in the fishing industry, changes in the offshore lobster industry, and conflict between tourism, development and the fishing industry in Newport, Rhode Island.