James Hastie received a PhD in Resource Economics in 1987 from Oregon State University and immediately began working for the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. Jim has been on the Pacific Council’s groundfish management team since 1993 and has served as co-chair from 2000 to 2003. He is currently the Program Manager for the Population Ecology Program and the Fishery Resource Analysis and Monitoring Division at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

James Tomasia was born in the Azores and immigrated to the United States when he was a boy. He talks about his life growing up, how he became a lumper, what a lumper does, and about the changes he has seen.

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.

Jay Burnett was born in 1948 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Boston University, and his bachelor’s degree in Fisheries as well as his master’s degree at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He spent his career in the Age and Growth Unit, ten years as the head. He participated in many survey cruises throughout the years. Mr. Burnett retired from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in 2010.

Dr. Jeffrey Polovinawas born in Troy, New York on September 30, 1948. He obtained an undergraduate degree in mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University and later a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of California, Berkley. He began his career in academics teaching at the University of San Diego. He moved to Hawaii and began working at the University of Hawaii Sea Grant office. He later went to work for the National Marine Fisheries Service and has served as the Chief of Ecosystem and Oceanography Division for most of his career. At the time of this interview in 2016, Dr.

Jerry Prezioso was born on February 27, 1949 in Brooklyn, New York. He received his undergraduate degree from Northeastern University and his master‟s from the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography. Jerry began working at the NOAA Laboratory in Narragansett, Rhode Island in 1974 and continues to work there as an oceanographer to this day. 

Jerry Wetherall was born in San Francisco. He graduated from Humboldt State University with his undergraduate degree and received his PhD at the University of Washington. His dissertation focused on salmon, downstream migration of salmon, on the Duwamish River. He served in the Peace Corps in Uganda and Kenya,and then began his career with National Marine Fisheries Service in 1974 at the Honolulu lab. Jerry has had a long and distinguished career in NOAA Fisheries and has worked all over the Pacific on a variety of topics.

John Isaksen has been a fisherman since the 1940's. He began fishing as a boy when he lived in Norway. He is the son of a fisherman. He talks about vessels lost at sea, unusual catches, and the men he learned from and the vessels he fished on.

Interview contains discussions of: NOAA, NMFS, ecology, marine science, fisheries science, commercial fishing, recreational fishing, ocean modeling, habitats, climate change, winter flounder, Magnuson Stevens Act. 

John Sibunka was a long time employee at the Sandy Hook Lab. His career spanned from 1966 when he joined the ichthyoplankton department to 2006 when he retired. He graduated from South Maine Vocational Technical Institute and Rutgers University where he received his bachelor's degree. During his career, John served on the R/V Delaware II, R/V Albatross IV,R/V NAUVOO and the R/V Henry Bigelow. Over his 40 year career, he spent an average of 100 days at sea per year.