Peter Heleen, fifty-six years old, has been involved in the fishing and shipping industry since he was a teenager. A graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, he worked for a variety of companies, including C.E. Beckman Company, a marine supply company, until 2013, when he became the yards purchasing manager for the Fairhaven Shipyard. He discusses his early years in the industry, the challenges of the job, his relationships with vendors and how the industry has changed over the years, particularly in terms of inventory management.

Petter and his wife Sharon own Harbor Hydraulics in Fairhaven, which he started with his brother some years ago. Petter graduated from New Bedford Vocational school, worked fishing with his father-in-law for a while, then at Scandia propellers, and eventually opened his own shop doing both installations and the business end of the paperwork. Sharon does the computer work and their son works in the shop and doing installations on the boats.

Phillip Mello describes his duties as a general manager at Bergies Seafood in New Bedford, MA, including auctions, transportation, fish cutting, sales, deliveries and networking. He joined Tichon Seafood in 1980 and continues to be active throughout the Fairhaven/New Bedford Harbor. Mello enjoys photography and documenting the fishing community. Changes in weather and fishing regulations have altered prices, catches and the economy of the fishing industry.

Ray Houtman, born on June 6, 1955, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, is a longshoreman with a rich family history in the industry. His grandparents, originally from Cape Verde, immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. On his father's side, Houtman's great-grandfather hailed from the West Indies. Growing up in a predominantly Cape Verdean community, Houtman's family has been involved in longshoremen work for several generations. Houtman's father was a longshoreman for over 40 years, and Houtman himself has been working as a longshoreman for about 32 years.

Richard and Raymond Canastra are American brothers who co-founded the Whaling City Seafood Display Auction in New Bedford, Massachusetts. They are known for their involvement in the commercial fishing industry, particularly in the scallop trade. The Canastra brothers were born and raised in New Bedford, a city with a rich history in the fishing industry. In 1994, they established the Whaling City Seafood Display Auction, which quickly became one of the largest seafood auctions on the East Coast of the United States.

In this interview Richard Gallagher, an electrical engineer at Chris Electronics in New Bedford, MA, shares his work history, discusses various electrical components of boats, details his daily work, and explains the relationships with customers, fishermen, and between co-workers at Chris Electronics.

This oral history was produced in 2017 as part of the Workers on the Waterfront Oral History Project conducted by New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center with funding from an Archie Green Fellowship provided by the Library of Congress.

Richard MacLeod is a retired fisherman who was born in Boston and later moved to Nova Scotia. In 1936, at the age of thirteen, he made his first voyage on a fishing trip on a three-masted sailing schooner called the A.W. Chism. In 1939, he moved to Gloucester and fished there for many years before moving to New Bedford in 1952. He fished out of New Bedford on various boats, including the Adventurer and Smylin. He later became the captain of the Mystic Light and eventually retired in 1983. After retirement, he started knitting lobster pot heads.

Description of the job of the tankerman, a licensed position on a fuel barge. Explanation about the benefit of fueling from a barge rather than a truck. Description of changes in fishing and scalloping since 1977. Demographic changes in the fishing community, lack of interest among young people. Some discussion about nicknames and superstitions, loss of the old-timers.

Robert Britto, a male boat owner and former fisherman, had a deep connection to the fishing industry, having spent 21 years at sea in various roles, including deckhand, cook, engineer, mate, captain, and owner. He initially got involved in fishing through his father-in-law, who was a fisherman. Britto started his scalloping career on his father-in-law's boat and went on to work on larger vessels before becoming the captain of the fishing vessel Rianda. Later, he purchased the Poseidon with John Isaacson and eventually built and owned the fishing vessel Hustler.

Robert Hicks is a fifty-two year old Plant Manager of Crystal Ice in New Bedford, Massachusetts.  He has been working at Crystal Ice since 1989, starting as a laborer and working his way up to Plant Manager. In this interview he describes his family history in the business, his early days at Crystal Ice, changes in the plant over the years, types of ice the plant makes, icing the fishing boats, other projects of Crystal Ice, and his favorite and least favorite parts of the job.