Monica Lemieux comes from a family of fishermen. Her grandfather, her father, and her brothers all earned their living on the bay. Her father, Bill Martina, is believed to have commissioned one of the first shrimp boats in the area. He named it the Irish Town after a neighborhood in Apalachicola, and the boat still hauls shrimp today. Monica's brother, Kevin, is its captain. Monica did not work in the seafood industry until she was an adult. She went to college and got a job outside of the industry. But when the company she worked for closed, she, too, looked to the bay for work.

Mrinal Biswas is a project scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. He initially pursued a bachelor's degree in mathematics before transitioning to applied science, earning a master's degree in geophysics. His interest in meteorology was sparked by a severe cyclone that hit Odisha, India, in 1999, causing a significant loss of life. This event, coupled with the influence of a professor who taught tropical meteorology, led him to specialize in this field. Biswas completed his master's degree in India and then moved on to his PhD.

Dr. Nadia Bloemendaal is a hurricane researcher and a professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands. She specializes in tropical meteorology, particularly in the areas of hurricane formation and intensity change. Dr. Bloemendaal earned her Ph.D. in atmospheric science from the University of Miami in 2011. Her research focuses on understanding the physical processes that control hurricane intensity, including the role of air-sea interactions, convection, and atmospheric dynamics.

Dr. Nancy Thompson was born in September 1949 in Newark, New Jersey. She earned her PhD from the University of Rhode Island. Dr. Thompson worked for NOAA from 1980-2011, serving as the Director at both the Southeast and Northeast Fisheries Science Centers during her career. At the time of this interview in 2016, she was working at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science.

Nate Meschelle is a young commercial fisherman based out of Cortez. Nate embarked on a full-time fishing career at a young age, honing his skills in various fisheries such as lady fish, jack, and pompano. He is not only experienced in navigating the waters and understanding the ecosystem but also an advocate for environmental conservation and sustainable fishing practices, actively engaging in activities like clam release and promoting initiatives to mitigate the impact of human activities on marine life.

Nick Ruland is a fish house owner who has been in Fort Myers Beach for 30 years. He thinks we should involve fishers in water testing and wants an emergency reduction of the grouper quota.

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Orrie Williams' family has been in Cortez since 1905.  His father had fish house and Orrie drove truck for him.  Williams talks about his family in Cortez, the Burton store and the 1921 hurricane. 

Otto Rutten is the Associate Operations Director at the Aquarius Reef Base underwater laboratory in Key Largo, Florida. Born and raised in Key Largo, Rutten developed a passion for marine biology from a young age, inspired by watching Jacques Cousteau on television. Despite his early fascination with marine science, Rutten pursued engineering at North Carolina State University and later worked for the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries while completing a master’s program at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW).

This interview with Patricia Fredette was conducted as part of the Recreational Fishermen of the Greater Tampa Bay Voices from the Fisheries Project. This project is a collection of oral histories of recreational fishermen and fisheries managers located in the Greater Tampa Bay area of Florida. Interviews in this project were conducted by eighth grade marine science students at Admiral Farragut Academy.

Captain Gould has been backwater fishing for 25 years. He charters approximately 250 trips a year. He also fishes along the beach and up to five or six miles nearshore. He fished offshore briefly from ’95 to ‘99.

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