Mr. Wesley Howard Stork is a retired commercial fisherman on Gulf Coast. Stork was born on December 12, 1926, in Pascagoula, Mississippi, to Mr. Henry Wilson Stork (born in Leavenworth, Kansas) and Mrs. Hattie Belle Clark Stork (born in Pascagoula, Mississippi). His father was a commercial fisherman and the owner of a merchandise store. His mother was a housewife, who worked in the family store. Stork’s father’s name was Hinklemeyer (sp?), and he changed his surname to Stork, which was his mother’s maiden name. Stork became a commercial fisherman, and he worked in a seafood plant. At the time of this interview, he was retired. He enjoys baseball, football, sports fishing, and boating. On January 25, 1951, in Creole, Mississippi, Stork married his wife Genie Mae (born on March 23, 1935, in Chapman, Alabama). They have two children, Wesley Dwight Stork (born December 30, 1951) and Sandra Kay Stork Bryant (born September 10, 1954).

Scope and Content Note:
He discusses the following topics: Oysters, oyster reefs, terrapins, commercial fishing, subsistence fishing, Mississippi Sound, purse seines, regulations, mullet, Clark Seafood plant, shrimp, gillnets, butterfish, fishing equipment, fuel, fishing boats and crews, charter boats, sports fishing, nets and webbings, roe mullet, offshore islands in Gulf of Mexico, seabirds, shrimping equipment, snapper, fishing boats lost, Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi River, floodwater diversion into Mississippi Sound, Bonnet Carre Spillway, BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Grand Bay Savannah, cast nets, family, Bayou Heron, Native American Indian shell middens, bears, litter in seas, BP Deepwater Horizon Vessels of Opportunity.