Voices from the Fisheries

NOAA FISHERIES SERVICE

Science, Service, Stewardship

Preserving Local Fisheries 

Knowledge, Linking Generations, and 

Improving Environmental Literacy

Julie Bartsch

Susan Abbott-Jamieson

Joyce Whitmore

Handbook

U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Marine Fisheries Service
Reference throughout this document to trade names or any proprietary product 

or material in this publication does not imply endorsement by the National Marine 

Fisheries Service, NOAA. No reference shall be made to NMFS/NOAA or to this 

publication furnished by NMFS, in any advertising or sales promotion which 

would imply that NMFS approves, recommends, or endorses any proprietary product or 

proprietary material mentioned herein which has as its purpose any 

intent to cause directly or indirectly the advertised product to be used or purchased 

because of this NMFS publication.

Preparation of this publication was contracted to the Rural School and Community Trust 

by the Office of Science and Technology, NMFS Headquarters. 

Opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are solely those of the authors and do 

not necessarily reflect the views or the policy of the 

National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 

Cover Photo: Rural School and Community Trust
Julie Bartsch 

The Rural School and Community Trust

1530 Wilson Boulevard Suite 240

Arlington, VA 22209

jbartsch@earthlink.net

Susan Abbott-Jamieson

Office of Science and Technology, NMFS

Economic and Sociocultural Analysis Division

1315 East West Hwy, Bldg 3, 12th Floor

Silver Spring, MD 20910

susan.abbott-jamieson@noaa.gov

Joyce Whitmore 

Ellsworth High School 

299 State Street

Ellsworth, Maine 04605 

April 2009

U.S. Department of Commerce

Gary Locke, Secretary of Commerce

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., NOAA Administrator 

National Marine Fisheries Service

James W. Balsiger, Ph.D., Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries

Voices from the Fisheries

Preserving Local Fisheries Knowledge, Linking Generations, and 

Improving Environmental Literacy

Handbook
Suggested citation:

Bartch, Julie, Susan Abbott-Jamieson, and Joyce Whitmore. 2009. Voices from the 

Fisheries Handbook: Preserving Local Fisheries Knowledge, Linking Generations, and 

Improving Environmental Literacy. U.S. Dep. Commerce, NOAA, Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., 

Silver Spring, MD., 132 p.

A copy of this report may be obtained from:

Susan Abbott-Jamieson

Office of Science and Technology, NMFS

Economic and Sociocultural Analysis Division

1315 East West Hwy, Bldg 3, 12th Floor

Silver Spring, MD 20910

susan.abbott-jamieson@noaa.gov

Or online at:

http://www.voices.nmfs.noaa.gov

ii
CONTENTS

Preface and Acknowledgements........................................... vii

List of Abbreviations..............................................................ix

Introduction ...........................................................................1

Background ............................................................................3

• Overview of the LFK Pilot Project 

• Early Project Development

• Participating Schools and Communities

• Goals

• Outcomes

• Place-based Learning Pedagogy 

• Continuing Evolution of the LFK Pilot Project

Getting Started.....................................................................13

Multiple Entry Points

• Project Advisory Committee

• Planning is Essential

• Professional Development

• Engaging Students

Building Community Partnerships.........................................17

• Identify Potential Partners

• Create Programs that Include the Community

• Public Presentations

Curriculum Integration (for educators)..................................21

• Locating the Project in the Disciplines 

• Develop Guiding Questions 

• Create a Hook for Engaging Students 

• Curriculum Ideas for Launching the Project (by discipline) 

• Addressing Learning Standards (State and National Standards) 

• Environmental Literacy 

iii
• Integration of Literacy Strategies

Ethical and Legal Issues for Interviews..................................35

• Some Generally Accepted Ethical Guidelines for Interviewing

• Release Forms and Why We Use Them

• Where to Find More Information

Recording Technologies and Related Matters........................39

• Paper and Pencil

• Tape (Analog) Recorders

• Digital Recorders

• Microphones

• Helpful Resources for Recording Technology

Interviewing .........................................................................45

How to Start

Conducting the Interview

Additional Resources

Transcribing Interviews ........................................................61

• Why Transcribe Interviews 

• Interview Logs

• Content Coding Interviews

• Additional Resources

Archiving Interviews and Related Documents.......................69

NOAA Voices from the Fisheries Database Archive ...............73

Assessing Outcomes .................................................................. 75

• Project Evaluation Tool Options

• Assessing Student Learning

• 21st Century Skills

• Connections to Standards

• Student Presentations and Performances

Other Coastal Marine Projects in the US and Beyond............81

• NOAA Projects

• Other Projects

•

•

•

iv
Appendices ..........................................................................85

A - LFK Pilot Project Resource Committee .......................... 86

B - LFK Pilot Project Student Questionnaire ....................... 89

C - Possible Topics for Evaluation of LFK Projects ............... 92

D - Sample Curriculum - Science......................................... 95

E - Planning for the Use of Literacy Support Strategies...... 96

F - Interview Release Forms.............................................. 100

G - School Project Pre-Interview Worksheet .................... 102

H - Sample Audio and Video Recording and Photograph

 Recording Logs ............................................................ 103

I - Oral History Rubric........................................................ 108

J - VFF How to Participate Form........................................ 109

K - Assessing Place-Based Initiatives Quick 

 Reference Guide.......................................................... 110

L - Guilford School Oral History Standards........................ 110

Glossary .............................................................................112

References .........................................................................113

v
vi
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Services Local Fisheries Knowledge 

(LFK) Project, piloted in Maine, has been a learning journey for 

everyone involved. Designing an educational program where 

knowledge and participation intersect to engage young people as vital 

community members, addressing issues that impact the future vitality and 

sustainability of their small fishing communities, is no small task! Some 

of the outcomes that have sustained us through the many challenges of 

implementing the LFK project include: 

• Receptivity from the community. Creating partnerships and 

common agendas between the diverse stakeholders—regulatory 

agencies, schools, students, and local community members—while 

challenging, has been one of the greatest strengths of this project. 

These partnerships have resulted in outcomes we could not have 

predicted at the project’s inception.

• Level of commitment by students (especially students who have 

difficulty learning in traditional classroom situations) as they came 

to realize the value of their work to their community and national 

institutions like NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.

• Learning that transpired for both students and adults. Teachers 

increased their knowledge of the relationships between their 

communities and the marine environment. They also increased 

their understanding of the communities their students live in and 

developed new relationships with community partners including 

NOAA; adults grew to appreciate the skill set young people bring to 

preservation efforts; and students expanded their knowledge, skills, 

aspirations, and appreciation for their place.

This handbook is our attempt to share strategies, lessons learned, and sample 

curricula for use in a variety of formal and informal educational settings 

interested in attempting similar worthwhile endeavors of documenting and 

preserving local fisheries knowledge.

Julie Bartsch Susan Abbott-Jamieson Joyce Whitmore

PREFACE &

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

vii
 Acknowledgments

The original Local Fisheries Knowledge Pilot Project, from which this 

handbook has grown, required considerable effort by many dedicated 

people. The first round of thanks belongs to two members of the LFK 

planning and implementation team. The fully developed project emerged 

over time with contributions from many people, but Jennifer Isé and Jim 

Roberts deserve special mention. Jennifer Isé, Assistant Project Manager for 

the Local Fisheries Knowledge Pilot Project, worked full time on the project 

during its inception while she was on rotation in NMFS Headquarters Office 

of Science and Technology, and she continued to make contributions later 

as a NMFS employee. She was instrumental in overseeing development 

of the original LFK Database and other aspects of the project. Jim Roberts 

was Local Project Coordinator for the pilot project, working with the Rural 

School and Community Trust, while also serving as Curriculum Developer 

for the Washington County Consortium, in Machias, Maine. He served as 

the onsite resource person for Jonesport-Beals High School, and was a key 

person in organizing teacher workshops and project evaluations.

The second round of special thanks go to the administrators and teaching 

staffs of the two LFK Pilot Project high schools. The project team leads 

at Ellsworth High School, Ellsworth, Maine—Candice MacBeth and Joyce 

Whitmore—and at Jonesport-Beals High School, Jonesport, Maine—Linda 

Church and Pam Smith—cannot be thanked enough for their willingness 

to set sail upon the untested waters of the original LFK Pilot Project, and 

to believe in its potential. They all devoted many hours in and out of their 

classrooms to make sure the project was a success in their respective 

schools and in their communities. 

Finally, we want to thank Alison Yaunches for her creative work in preparing 

the final manuscript for publication. 

viii
DOC Department of Commerce

LFK Local Fisheries Knowledge

JHS Jonesport Historical Society

NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Rural Trust Rural School and Community Trust

VFF Voices from the Fisheries

Voices Voices from the Fisheries

ABBREVIATIONS

ix
x
1

 Why is it important to document and preserve marine 

 related oral history? 

INTRODUCTION

F

rom this country’s earliest times, there has been a dependency on 

marine resources to sustain ourselves and make a living. That way of 

life is changing quickly. Oceans and coastal areas are threatened—

domestically and around the world—resulting in uncertainty for the future of 

their ecosystems and the people and communities that depend upon them. 

Traditional fishing economies are being transformed or replaced

around the country. In some places, related social problems like outmigration of young adults, unemployment, and declining populations are 

the consequence. In other coastal areas, populations are increasing. New 

residents from urban places are seeking vacation and retirement homes 

near the coast. Their newer, more expensive housing can increase property 

values making it difficult for some local people to continue living in an area, 

while others find new livelihoods from a more diversified economy. All of 

these economic and social forces contribute to increased environmental 

pressures, and cultural and social transformation.

A rich body of knowledge about community fishing history and 

culture is disappearing. Capturing the stories and experiences of local 

fishermen and women is especially important in coastal states like Maine, 

which historically have depended on the marine or Great Lakes environment 

for their economic and cultural base. As coastal demographics change, it is 

important that young people growing up in these areas have access to the 

rich history of their state’s and their nation’s coastal culture; it is equally 

important for newcomers to the coast. 

This information is also useful to social scientists interested in coastal 

societies and their economies, whose research is drawn on by marine 

fisheries managers when anticipating the impacts of regulations on local 

fishing communities. Further, fishermen’s detailed knowledge about the 
2

local marine environment and past distribution and characteristics of local 

marine fish stocks is useful to fisheries biologists who try to reconstruct 

what marine fish stocks were like before scientists began collecting this 

information. Now that NOAA Fisheries Service management has adopted 

an ecosystems-based approach, it is important that we better understand 

complex relationships among diverse species in local and regional 

environments. Properly focused, oral histories collected from experienced 

fishermen in specified localities can contribute to this effort.

One strategy for documenting and preserving the cultural, 

environmental, and historical knowledge of fishing communities is engaging 

schools and students. Through interviews with community residents who 

have worked in various aspects of marine fisheries and other individuals 

with long experience in the marine environment, students are able to 

explore the connections between fisheries, the marine environment, their 

community, and their own lives.

For many students, integrating this kind of learning experience 

into the school curriculum can be the catalyst for engagement as they 

see the connections between abstract academic concepts and their own 

experiences. 

A successful project embedded in a school not only preserves local 

knowledge and local voices for a community, but it also makes place-based 

knowledge accessible to a larger national and international community. 

Through participating in well-designed, well-executed projects, all ages 

improve their awareness and knowledge of the manner by which their 

marine environment influences human behavior and beliefs. Participants 

also gain increased appreciation of how such patterned human behavior 

and beliefs impact coastal zones and the ocean itself.
 3

 Overview of the Local Fisheries Knowledge Pilot Project 

BACKGROUND

T

he idea for a Local Fisheries Knowledge (LFK) Pilot Project evolved from 

a series of conversations in 2002 at NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS) heard by Senior Social Scientist, Susan Abbott-Jamieson, 

as she was trying to make sense of her new job. The first conversation 

concerned the need to improve relationships with fishing communities 

affected by agency regulatory actions. Because the agency regulates marine 

fisheries resources, administers the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and 

oversees the fates of sea turtles, fish, and some marine plants protected under 

the Endangered Species Act, its actions can profoundly affect fishermen’s 

ability to make a living and thus the welfare of fishermen’s families, fishing 

communities, and ports involved in fishing. Regulatory power over fisheries 

can generate antagonism toward both federal and state regulators from those 

relying on fisheries for their livelihood. 

Another conversation concerned the anticipated loss of possibly 

fifty percent of the agency’s senior work force over the next decade 

through retirement, a problem common to all federal agencies. Aware of 

the problem, NOAA is looking for ways to introduce youth to the wide array 

of career possibilities available throughout the agency, including marinerelated occupations.

The third conversation concerned many commercial fishermen’s belief 

that fisheries scientists and managers disdain their knowledge about the fish 

and other marine resources they use, and the marine environment they inhabit. 

While some scientists and managers may disdain local fisheries knowledge, 

most just have difficulty visualizing how it can be systematically collected and 

transformed into a useable format for science and management. 

A fourth conversation involved NOAA’s expanding education role 

to promote an environmentally literate public. In addition to its scientific 

mandate, NOAA plays a leading role in the conservation, management, and 

restoration of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources. The stewardship of 

these resources for current and future generations is critical to the long-term 

sustainability of our society and the planet. Monitoring the health of these 
4

ecosystems and building an understanding of the relationships between 

the ocean and other Earth systems is a core mission of the organization. 

Over the last 100 years, human actions have greatly altered these natural 

systems, seriously threatening the resources under NOAA’s jurisdiction. 

All of NOAA’s scientists—including atmospheric, oceanic, biological, and 

social—recognize that the pressure on the environment will increase with 

the globalization of world markets, population shifts, and the race for 

economic growth forecasted for the 21st century. NOAA cannot manage 

these issues. Partnering with the public to share stewardship responsibilities 

is a necessity; environmental literacy is one step in that process. 

The possibility for a project existed in the intersection of these four 

conversations. The new project would combine general fishing community 

outreach and efforts to introduce young people to marine-related careers 

with the creation of a school-based, marine focused oral history project 

supported by an agency research tool that could archive and preserve local 

fisheries knowledge. The LFK Pilot Project began to take form (Isé and AbottJamieson, 2005; Abbott-Jamieson, 2007).

 Early Project Development

Once support was given to develop a pilot project that would 

combine NOAA’s interest in community outreach with exposing 

youth to marine-related careers, NOAA located a partner with the 

requisite expertise and contacts with public schools in rural, coastal areas. 

The Rural School and Community Trust (Rural Trust), a national nonprofit 

organization addressing the crucial relationship between good schools and 

thriving communities, involves young people in learning linked to important 

issues in their communities via place-based education. 

Place-based education immerses students in local heritage, culture, 

environment, and experiences as a foundation for their academic study. 

This orientation fit the LFK Pilot Project goals. NOAA and the Rural Trust 

chose Maine as the project site, because the Rural Trust already had welldeveloped contacts there through other initiatives. Additionally, the agency 

felt New England was a good area for outreach. A long-standing, contentious 

regulatory environment throughout the region meant that many resident 

fishermen were antagonistic toward the agency. 

The Rural Trust was able to guide the design of the two-year LFK Pilot 

Project so that it contributed to the participating schools’ ability to meet 

relevant state educational standards and academic goals. Once the Rural 
5

Trust, in consultation with NMFS project staff, selected the two participating 

schools, they established a Resource Committee with representatives from a 

variety of marine related fields and held a summer Curriculum Development 

Workshop for participating teachers and community partners (see Appendix 

A: Local Fisheries Knowledge Pilot Project Committee 2003-2005).

The teachers had to be convinced that the project would fit into 

their curriculum and enhance student learning goals. They had to make 

the LFK Pilot Project their own by adapting the general concept to their 

individual schools. This process resulted in local differences in the way 

the two pilot schools developed the project. Local control was essential 

to whatever success each school had with the project. The emphasis in 

Maine was the project’s use of oral history, understanding of marine issues, 

and its development of a publicly accessible database for archiving and 

systematically searching LFK interviews—features common to the LFK Pilot 

Project in both schools. There are a number of other dimensions that could be 

developed in such a project (see Getting Started section, page 12). 

NOAA wants to replicate the successful pilot project in coastal 

communities across the country, with the goal of inspiring a new generation 

of fisheries scientists, managers, and marine affairs professionals.

 Participating Schools and Communities

T

he two schools and communities selected to participate in the LFK 

Pilot Project were Ellsworth (Hancock County) and Jonesport-Beals 

(Washington County) Maine. While both communities have rich 

fishing histories, they bring different perspectives because of size, location, 

and current economic realities. 

Jonesport-Beals, with a combined towns’ population slightly over 2,000, 

is a fishing port where fishing is still the prevailing industry. Unlike most fishing 

communities, times until recently have been good for Jonesport and nearby 

We are very excited about having the opportunity to document and study our local history. It 

is important for young people to know where 

they come from as they are striving to figure 

out where they are going.

—Colleen Haskell, recently appointed assistant 

superintendent of Jonesport-Beals High School.
6

Beals Island because of their specialization in 

lobsters. In fact, approximately one third of 

the students at Jonesport-Beals High School 

have commercial fishing licenses and some 

had already purchased their own boats at the 

time of the LFK Pilot Project.1 Many students 

labor long hours on the water with family 

members from whom they have learned their 

skills, and they consider lobstering a viable 

career possibility after high school.

Ellsworth, population 6,500, is a bustling 

commercial town providing retail services 

to thousands of tourists who stream in and 

out of Acadia National Park. It is located on 

the banks of the Union River where alewife 

(Alosa pseudoharengus) still migrate. 

While shipbuilding and fishing is part of its 

economic history, today most fish-related 

jobs evolve around processing, marketing, 

and consumption of fish. Ellsworth has worm 

diggers and other commercial providers of bait. It has banks that provide credit 

to those purchasing new boats and equipment for fisheries. It also has fresh 

seafood restaurants, and an important seafood distribution business. The high 

school draws its 600 students from as many as 18 outlying communities. 

The LFK Pilot Project began in different departments within each 

of the schools. In Jonesport-Beals High School, the project involved ten 

students enrolled in business and entrepreneurship courses. Because of 

its small size, there was flexibility in scheduling and connections across 

classrooms. In Ellsworth High School, the program was organized by a core 

group of grade ten teachers who called themselves “The Cod Squad.” The 

intent was to integrate the LFK Pilot Project across the disciplines so that all 

175 members of the sophomore class could participate.

The purple box highlights the two Maine 

counties involved in the LFK Pilot Project.

 Goals

A number of goals and desired outcomes were articulated by LFK Pilot 

Project partners:

1. Provide rigorous and relevant learning opportunities that connect 

1

You can read about some of these students on the LFK website http://www.st.nmfs.gov/lfkproject/ (2 March 

2009)
7

students to issues in their coastal communities and equip them with 

the skills necessary for work and continued education. 

Oral history methods used in schools to connect students to their 

community’s heritage provide an excellent venue for the acquisition 

of 21st century skills that are necessary for work and community life.

2. Strengthen connections between students, schools, community, 

and NOAA Fisheries.

The preservation of local knowledge and culture brings the generations 

together and stimulates an appreciation and understanding of each 

other. Student interviews and the VFF database became important 

steps in bridging the gulf between fishermen and marine scientists 

and managers.

3. Increase students’ awareness and understanding of the marine 

environment by exploring their socio-cultural, economic, and 

ecological connections to it.

Students gained knowledge of regional ties between social and 

economic demands and environmental constraints through their 

interviews and related research.

4. Promote learning about careers in marine science, management, 

and policy.

Students who previously saw no connection between their lives 

and the work of scientists and 

fisheries managers begin to 

imagine alternative futures for 

themselves as fisheries scientists, 

managers, and entrepreneurs 

through project activities.

5. Document and preserve local 

fisheries knowledge.

There is an urgent need in fishing 

communities to capture the 

traditional knowledge about fish 

and habitat from fishermen and 

women. If properly designed and 

executed, this knowledge can 

provide an invaluable historic 

and current database of local 

knowledge that will be useful to 

science as well as local community 

history. 

Members of the JHS and local residents 

gather to hear Jonesport/Beals students talk 

about their LFK Project in 2004. 

Photo: Linda Church

Students increased their motivation to learn 

and their communities were energized 

through the exchange.

—Michel Kimball, Assistant Professor of 

Anthropology at UMaine Machias
8

This project has influenced my future in many ways such as what I would like to do for 

a career. I did not know what I wanted to do after high school, but once we started 

working on the NOAA project, I found a new passion for communications. Following 

several interviews, I have decided to apply to the New England School of Broadcasting.

—Brittany Sawyer, Jonesport-Beals Senior

JHS Board members, Bill Plaskon (left) 

and Don Woodard (right), in the new 

Jonesport Heritage Center, Jonesport, ME, 

partially funded by a NOAA Preserve 

America Initiative Grant. 

 Examples of Project Outcomes

Goal 1: Student learning and acquisition 

of new skills

Literacy skills, such as semantic 

feature analysis, coding of interview 

information, listening skills, and new 

vocabulary were reinforced by many of 

the LFK Pilot Project tasks. Students also 

expanded their use and understanding 

of various technology tools and software 

through recording, transcribing, scanning 

documents, and editing digital and audio 

tape recordings as they processed their 

interviews for the database, and created 

various presentations for community 

groups. 

Goal 2: New connections between students, schools, and community 

Cumulatively, participating schools created partnerships with over 

30 local organizations and community entities and recorded oral interviews 

from approximately 30 fishermen and women. Over 125 interviewees 

remained on waiting lists at the two schools. Early evaluation data showed 

gains in student engagement, attendance, academic performance, 

awareness of marine heritage and community involvement, innovative 

instructional practices, and improved community vitality. 

Cross-generational and school/community ties have been 

strengthened as a result of the LFK Pilot Project, while the documentation 

of the area’s marine heritage through oral history preservation activities 

has been expanded beyond the high school student’s project activities.

Within weeks of the project’s start, a serendipitous relationship 

began developing between the Jonesport Historical Society (JHS) and the 

LFK Pilot Project at Jonesport-Beals High School. The JHS was also interested 

in collecting oral histories of life in the local area, including the life histories 

of those whose livelihoods were tied in some way to the local marine 
9

environment. Joneport has a long history with the fishing industry stretching 

back well into the 19th century that includes harvesting, processing, and 

boat building among other activities. 

The JHS began to cooperate with the high school students. The students 

taught the JHS members about new technological options for recording and 

processing oral history materials, and the JHS members helped the students 

and their teachers locate suitable interviewees in the Jonesport and Beals 

Island communities. The students began attending JHS meetings, and some 

have made presentations about their oral history work. Over the course of 

two years, the JHS membership grew from less than five members to over 

100, in part because of the interest created by the students’ work. At the 

end of the second year, the NMFS LFK Pilot Project staff was able to secure a 

NOAA Preserve America Initiative grant2 to help the JHS purchase equipment 

for use in collecting and presenting local history materials for a local heritage 

center that has been developed in Jonesport (America Competes Act, 2009).

Goal 3: Awareness and understanding of the marine environment

The interviews provided students with a historical perspective on 

the lean and fat years of lobstering, and on how their communities have 

prospered because of sustainability measures, such as restrictions on legal 

size, v-notching fertile females, and trap limits. Jonesport-Beals students 

joined a community resource panel talking about coastal access issues and 

The impact of the project has been especially profound for students like Brittany 

Sawyer, who joined the project as a shy, unsure young woman who reluctantly 

agreed to be the team member that asked the interview questions. After the first 

couple of interviews, it was clear that Brittany had a real talent for putting

 the interviewees at ease, adapting interview questions as the interview progressed, 

and summarizing the salient points from the hours of conversation. 

She became known as the “Diane Sawyer” of the NOAA project and her confidence 

began to soar. So did her aspirations, as everyone who witnessed her skills encouraged 

her to explore further training in journalism and broadcasting. 

By early spring she began to consider going to college immediately after 

graduation rather than getting a job in a local establishment to finance a college 

education. Brittany’s aspirations for her life have changed dramatically

 through this project. In May, Brittany received her acceptance letter from

 the New England School of Broadcasting. Brittany’s aspirations for her life

 have changed dramatically through this project. 

—Pam Smith, teacher, Jonesport-Beals

2

See http://www.preserveamerica.noaa.gov/welcome.html (accessed 9 June 2008) for a description of the Preserve America Initiative and the NOAA Preserve America Initiative effort. A full description of the Jonesport, ME 

JHS grant can be found at http://www.preserveamerica.noaa.gov/grantrecip05.html (accessed 9 June 2008).
10

presented their community-based research work in a college class. Ellsworth 

biology students developed a fisheries management plan for a specific Gulf 

of Maine species. 

Goal 4: Expanded understanding about careers in marine science, 

management, and policy

One of the positive outcomes of the LFK Pilot Project has been seeing 

how students have expanded their skills and aspirations as they designed 

and conducted interviews; utilized sophisticated software to transcribe, 

analyze, and organize the data; and presented the project highlights to 

local and national organizations. A pre-post questionnaire (see Appendix B 

- LFK Project Student Questionnaire) showed increased interest in marine 

biology careers, journalism, and marine resource management issues. 

In the second year of the project, Ellsworth High School featured marine 

career presentations. 

Goal 5: Document and preserve local fisheries knowledge

Over 30 oral interviews were collected in Ellsworth and JonesportBeals over two years. These interviews were made available to the public 

on the project’s LFK Database, available at http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.

gov/lfkproject/ (accessed 23 February 2009). Jonesport-Beals students 

continued interviewing local fishermen after the LFK Pilot Project ended. 

 Place-Based Learning Pedagogy

Place-based learning was a natural fit for the LFK Pilot Project, since it 

involves using the local community—its history, environment, culture, 

and economy—as the integrating context for learning. Community 

members serve as resources and partners to students as they collectively 

preserve local heritage. 

The benefits of the place-based learning model include connecting 

students in local schools with fishermen and women in their communities 

in a way that will value and affirm their traditional knowledge about fishing, 

fish, and habitat. Based on the experience of other programs using this 

approach, students who previously saw no connection between their lives 

and the work of scientists and fisheries managers can begin to imagine 

alternative futures for themselves as fisheries scientists, managers, and 

entrepreneurs. 

Students develop critical thinking skills and see the relevance of what 

they are learning as they collect the rich cultural histories of their place. 
11

NOAA embraces place-based education as a strategic methodology for 

promoting environmental literacy by enhancing the connections between 

human actions, scientific information, policy, and Earth’s systems. Framing 

these connections in a local context within the social framework of one’s 

community and the associated resources makes lessons more powerful and 

long lasting (NOAA Education Council, 2008).

Organizations like the Rural Trust, Foxfire, the Place-based Education 

Evaluation Collaborative and others have researched and documented the 

effectiveness of place-based learning initiatives. The place-based learning 

model literature describes improved academic performance, engagement, 

and retention in school, followed by increased rates of college attendance 

as a common effect. An extensive program evaluation conducted by 

researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for the Rural Trust 

provides case studies of schools and communities throughout rural America 

that have been transformed by grounding students’ education in the local 

community and intentionally moving away from didactic approaches to 

schooling (Harvard Graduate School of Education, 1999). 

 Continuing Evolution of the LFK Pilot Project 

T

he LFK Pilot Project ended with the 2005 academic year. JonesportBeals High School continued the project during the following academic 

year on their own initiative, while a new schedule at Ellsworth High 

School and the retirement of a key staff member made it difficult for 

teachers to continue. 

The LFK Database developed to house copies of the students’ 

interview transcriptions proved troublesome during the pilot project. It 

was distinctly “user non-friendly,” so teachers and students alike struggled 

to master its processes for uploading their transcribed interviews to make 

them available to the public. 

Another bottleneck occurred because the original LFK Database 

could only accept PDF files of interview transcriptions. Transcribing 

interviews is a time-consuming process, requiring as much as three or four 

hours of transcribing time for every hour of recording time. Teachers simply 

could not devote sufficient classroom time to complete transcriptions of all 

the interviews they actually recorded. Both problems had to be addressed 

before student participation in future LFK projects could be promoted. 
12

NOAA Fisheries staff committed themselves to building an entirely 

new, truly user-friendly database that could accept both MP3 digital 

audio files and PDF transcriptions of audio files. Allowing MP3 audio files 

to be uploaded to the new database eliminated any need for interview 

transcription. 

The new database, now called the Voices from the Fisheries (VFF) 

Database, can be accessed at http://www.voices.nmfs.noaa.gov. All the 

interviews from the original LFK Pilot Project are now available on the VFF 

Database, as well as many oral history interviews collected as part of other 

projects. 

Transformed into the Voices from the Fisheries Project and VFF 

Database, NMFS staff hope that Voices will become a “one stop shop” for 

those interested in the human connection with our marine and aquatic 

environments, and our living marine resources. The VFF Database is intended 

to be a central repository for consolidating, archiving, and disseminating 

oral history interviews related to commercial, recreational, and subsistence 

fishing in the Unites States and its territories. 

Many marine and fisheries-related oral histories already exist, 

scattered in dozens of collections throughout the U.S. Eventually copies 

of part of these historical collections will become available on the VFF 

Database, joining a growing inventory of marine oral history interviews 

collected by students, family members, professional researchers, and 

others interested in preserving all of the voices from the fisheries. The VFF 

Database is poised to become a powerful resource available to the public to 

inform, educate, and provide primary information for all who are interested 

in the local, human experience with the surrounding marine environment.

A note on the use of LKF and VFF

Throughout the remaining sections of the handbook, we refer to the original 

project as the LFK project, while we use VFF or Voices from the Fisheries 

project to refer to any oral history project that interviews people who have 

had a connection with some aspect of marine or Great Lakes fishing or other 

activities related to these envrionments. 
13

GETTING STARTED

T

he ultimate success of an LFK project depends on good planning 

and a committed group of stakeholders. During the planning phase, 

decisions need to be made regarding: desired outcomes resulting from 

program’s activities, key action steps, appropriate measurement tools for 

desired outcomes, resources available to the project; and the information 

and data to be gathered before, during, and after for the evaluation of the 

program. 

 Multiple Entry Points

T

he initial idea for fisheries projects can come from various sources 

such as: schools, marine-related organizations and agencies, students, 

or local community members. In the case of the LFK Pilot Project, the 

idea came from NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service and the curriculum 

was developed in two Maine secondary schools. A project might also be 

proposed and developed by a marine-based community organization, such 

as the Fisheries Education Project at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories 

in Monterey, California. In this project, the curriculum was developed by 

education staff at Moss Landing for the public schools. 

Regardless of where a project originates, it is best when there is 

collaboration between schools, marine-based organizations, and local 

individuals who possess certain fisheries/science knowledge or skill sets of 

value to the project.

Create a Project Advisory Committee 

E

stablish an advisory team with representation from the schools, 

cultural and marine-based community organizations, fishermen, 

fisheries management personnel, and others who will serve as 

resources to the program. 
14

The LFK Pilot Project Resource Committee was developed with 

representatives from a variety of fields, including higher education, NOAA 

Fisheries personnel, educators, fishermen, and others with expertise in the 

fields of anthropology, traditional ecological knowledge, fisheries science, 

and fisheries management. The Resource Committee met in April 2003 

to review the LFK Pilot Project’s design and identify possible resources 

and services they might individually offer to support the project. Various 

committee members offered support throughout the pilot project, including 

participation in the evaluation of project outcomes. 

 Professional Development and Technical Assistance 

Administrative support and adequate time are essential to attempt a 

VFF Project. Providing professional development for educators and 

community development practitioners increases local capacity to 

 Planning is Essential

At Ellsworth High School in Maine, the project was organized by an 

interdisciplinary core group of tenth grade teachers, including the 

school librarian and a member of the technology department. Over 

the summer, teachers spent planning days organizing a curriculum that 

would allow every sophomore the chance to participate through their 

English, history, and biology courses. The core group of teachers came up 

with a series of questions to guide their planning: 

• What concrete action steps will lead to implementation?

• Who of the Cod Squad will lead and/or coordinate?

• When will action steps occur and when will they be completed?

• What resources do we need?

• How will project activities be connected to the existing curriculum?

An extensive schedule was set up for the year, allowing the project 

to take place both in classes and students’ advisory period. Teachers agreed 

to meet on a weekly basis to discuss and assess project progress. 

At Maine’s Jonesport-Beals High School, students enrolled in a 

business-technology and an entrepreneurship course titled “We Mean 

Business” participated in this project. Because of the small number 

of students involved, there was flexibility in scheduling and building 

connections across classrooms, and less elaborate planning was 

required.
15

engage in and sustain this kind of work. The Maine LFK 

Pilot Project held summer institutes for planning and 

evaluation, employed a part-time school coach to work 

with each community team, and worked with staff from 

NOAA and the Rural Trust, who provided regular support 

with various components of the program. 

Prior to launching the project, the LFK Pilot Project 

held a Curriculum Institute for teachers from Ellsworth 

and Jonesport-Beals, NOAA social scientists, Rural Trust 

staff, and various members of the Resource Committee. 

Participants spent time identifying connections between 

the project, the existing curriculum, Maine Learning 

Results, and issues facing both communities. Participants 

discussed timelines, curriculum materials, and strategies 

for engaging students in the project. Each community 

came up with an overarching question to guide the 

project. Each school identified teacher leaders for the project as well.

Technical support is also important for the project. Jim Roberts, 

former curriculum developer for Maine’s Washington County Consortium 

and a member of the Rural Trust’s Rural Faculty, coordinated many of the 

pilot year activities in the two schools. In his role, Jim developed a broadbased network of organizations and resources for the project, organized 

speaking engagements for students, presented workshops for teachers, 

assisted teachers with curriculum lessons and linkages to the Washington 

County Adolescent Literacy Project, advised on technology issues, promoted 

project activities in the local media, and assisted with documentation and 

assessment activities. Jim met with participating teachers on a regular basis.

Susan Abbott-Jamieson and other NOAA personnel made several 

visits to Maine during the project to assist with various aspects, including 

the interviewing process, transcribing, creating and training teachers and 

their students on how to use the web-based LFK database. Susan was 

instrumental in promoting the project outcomes within NOAA and among 

national audiences.

Jennifer Isé of NOAA worked with information technology staff on 

the development of the database and the project website. She provided 

training to schools on the database and made presentations at national 

conferences on the LFK Pilot Project.

Julie Bartsch, Northeast Regional Steward for the Rural Trust, provided project 

Julie Bartch leading a 

discussion introducing 

the LFK Pilot Project to 

teachers in Maine, 2003
16

coordination and connections with other important education and marine 

initiatives in the state, organized trainings, coordinated documentation and 

assessment activities, provided fiscal oversight, served as coach to Ellsworth, 

and promoted the program beyond Maine.

 Engaging Students

S

tudent ownership is key to the success of an LFK Project. Much of the 

conversation in the first few professional development activities for 

the Resource Committee and the teaching staff was around how to 

build ownership and enthusiasm for the project among students. To realize 

greater student engagement, the group explicitly included students in as 

many phases of the project as possible—design, planning, implementation, 

and evaluation. 

Organizing work around questions and problems is an effective way to 

engage students. Begin with questions like: 

• What does fishing and fishing history mean to you?

• Why is it important to our community?

• How is the Gulf of Mexico or (name adjacent marine or Great Lakes 

sub-area near your community) important to our community? To you 

personally?

Another effective student engagement tool is to 

have students identify someone in their family or 

friends to interview. (See “Creating a Hook” in the 

Curriculum Integration section of the handbook for 

more ideas, page 35).

Student ownership of the project 

and encouraging a collaborative 

environment increases the 

likelihood of success. By including 

students in the planning and 

implementation of projectbased learning, you gain student 

perspective and an opportunity 

to teach students valuable skills. 

They learn how to advocate for 

their ideas, plan, troubleshoot, 

and work in a group. 

—GENERATION YES Blog, 

February 2008
17

Community partnerships serve a multiplicity of functions to 

community-based projects. They ground place-based projects in 

genuine community needs, provide needed resources including role 

models for students and offer insights into various marine-based careers. 

Community partnerships can be instrumental in sustaining projects beyond 

the tenure of students and walls of the classroom. In Maine, documentation 

of the area’s marine heritage through oral history preservation activities 

has expanded far beyond the high school student’s LFK activities.

Cross-generational and school-community relationships are 

often strengthened through partnerships with community members and 

community-based organizations. Both schools involved with the LFK Pilot 

Project saw an increase in community support. Local adults who had never 

before set foot in the local high school regularly attended public presentations 

on local cultural and maritime heritage. Community organizations, such as 

local historical societies, now view young people as important resources 

and positive contributors to the health and sustainability of their 

organizations. 

 Identify Potential Community Partners

1. Contact your historical society. The serendipitous relationship that 

developed between Jonesport Historical Society and the LFK Pilot 

Project at Jonesport/Beals High 

School described earlier illustrates 

how partnering with your local 

historical society can benefit both 

a VFF project and the historical 

society. As it happened, the JHS 

wanted to collect oral histories in 

their community. Both the school 

BUILDING COMMUNITY

PARTNERSHIPS

When students work on issues 

that are of real importance to 

the community and community 

members get involved as resources, everyone benefits.

—Julie Bartsch, 

Rural School and Community Trust 
18

and the historical society discovered they could combine their efforts 

to the benefit of both. The LFK Pilot Project students and their teachers 

wanted to locate appropriate local residents to interview, while some 

historical society members wanted to learn about making digital audio 

recordings, and how to use new software that aids audio recording 

transcription. The students made presentations at JHS meetings, and 

some JHS members came to the school to talk about their activities. 

By the second year of the LFK Pilot Project almost ten percent of the 

local population of 1,200 people had joined the JHS.

2. Contact your local public library, local marine sanctuary, and 

museums. Ellsworth High School students and teachers worked 

together with the Ellsworth Public Library (EPL). The EPL agreed to 

create a “Community Reads Program” using Mark Kurlansky’s book 

Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World to complement 

the students’ reading assignment. The EPL also hosted a series of 

meetings for the general public to learn about the LFK project and 

assisted students in organizing a free public supper entitled “From 

Ocean to Table.” The supper included a number of guest speakers 

who shared how fishing connected to their own lives and livelihood 

in our area. Over 250 people, including students and teachers, were 

present for the “Ocean to Table” supper. Maine Shellfish, a major 

supplier of fish to the New England area, donated the cod used for 

the fish chowder and the Hancock County Technical Center Culinary 

Arts Program cooked and served the meal.

3. Contact your local colleges. A member of the LFK Resource 

Committee and Associate Professor at University of Maine Machias 

was a leading supporter of the LFK Pilot Project. He invited 

students to present in his ethno biology class and participate 

in a resource panel at the University to discuss coastal access 

issues; he was also a frequent speaker in high school classes.

4. Contact state and local agencies. Several state and local agencies were 

involved in the project including the Maine Department of Marine 

Resources and the Union River Watershed. Representatives from 

these offices and from the NMFS office in Orono, Maine participated 

in Ellsworth High School’s Career Day to talk about marine-related 

careers.
19

 Create programs that include the community

1. Establish a project advisory group. As previously mentioned, an 

advisory group can be an excellent source of information and 

resources needed to achieve project goals.

2. Host a career day. Invite members of the community in to discuss 

with students possible careers in fishing occupations, marine science, 

management, and policy. For college students who want to learn 

general information about student research programs and scholarships 

available for further study, check out the NOAA website at http://www.

education.noaa.gov/students.htm.

3. Launch an internship program so students can job shadow or intern 

with representatives of the fishing, marine science, management, 

and policy fields. In Maine, the Oceanarium on Mount Desert Island 

has an internship program in place where students can be actively 

involved in lobster research. If you are interested in this program and/

or wish an application write to: Oceanarium, P.O. Box 696, Southwest 

Harbor, Maine 04679. In turn, NOAA offers a variety of educational 

programs for teachers and students. You can learn more about these 

programs by visiting http://www.education.noaa.gov/students.htm.

 

4. Create a website or blog to share with the community what you are 

doing. Encourage people to write in and share.

 

5. Invite the press to discuss with 

students and teachers what 

their specific role is in reference 

to the fishing industry. Ask how 

they can be of help to you and 

how you, in turn, can be of help 

to them. Several newspapers 

wrote articles about the LFK Pilot 

Project (Brunton, 2004) 

PB: So what do you think sounds like being 

more fun: being an interviewer, a journalist, or a mussel farmer?

WB: Mussel farmer. Sounds pretty cool, 

right now, actually.

JK: I was completely ignorant as to how 

mussel farming works. Now, I have an idea 

about it. It is so interesting. It is always 

neat to see how people will take an inch 

out of some place. Wow.

—Students commenting 

on the EHS Career Fair
20

 Public Presentations 

Public presentations and culminating events with various audiences 

give students an opportunity to demonstrate what they have 

learned from their oral history projects and why the work matters. 

Recognizing accomplishments also demonstrates the value of the program 

and instills energy and excitement. Presentations to a selected public also 

can provide ongoing support and energy to a long-term project and provide 

appropriate closure.

Audiences should include educators, parents, community members, 

and leaders of local businesses and government. Extending invitations to 

members of the media is a good idea for positively promoting the program. 

Increased public recognition and awareness may lead to new funding 

opportunities as well.

A student presentation to the community at the end of the first year 

was an important turning point in the LFK Pilot Project in Jonesport-Beals. 

Students shared a multi-media slide show with parents, community and 

students that included clips from interviews interchanged with photos of 

local scenic places all viewed to the lyrics of Dan Fogelberg’s song “The 

Reach,” written with Jonesport in mind. The audience was overwhelmed by 

the talents, interest, and pride demonstrated by their young people. The 

following year, students made and sold calendars with some of the same 

photos featuring a different fisherman and his family each month.

A page from the calendar sold by JonesportBeals students.
21

T

his section describes how teachers and others can integrate a VFF 

Project into a curriculum. Museum educators and educators with 

other marine-related organizations doing public education and 

outreach can adapt these curriculum strategies to meet their own particular 

educational needs. 

An LFK Project provides an excellent opportunity to promote teaching 

and learning experiences that are relevant, rigorous, and promote strong 

relationships across generations. By using the local community as a context 

for learning, projects like LFK bring the resources of the community into the 

educational process and the energy, creativity, and skills of students to bear 

on important community and economic issues. School-community ties are 

strengthened in interesting ways. 

For example, a school may decide it wants to emphasize documenting 

the local fishing knowledge and experiences of the oldest members of their 

local fishing community, while a regional museum may decide that they 

want to explore knowledge of changes in local fish habitat in the recent 

past. The local historical society may want to document the local boat 

CURRICULUM

INTEGRATION

TU: I think the most thrilling (story) was one time I was off shore fishing for cod fish, and 

I had three of my brothers with me, and it was thick of fog and next thing I know I heard 

this whale blow. So I tell my brothers, “git up on the bow and haul the anchor up, I heard 

a whale blow”...I didn’t want to get up there. He said, “Oh, no” – he said we was catching 

fish by the bail and that’s just what those whales were there after—the cod fish, so he 

said, “let’s just fish, we can’t go home.”. The water all around us was full of cod and there 

was more than one whale, there were several whales. There was one that come straight 

for us, straight to the side and come right on top of us, on top of the water and when it 

got almost to us he lowered down and went right underneath the keel, right up on the 

other side. And I told the boys, I said, “haul the anchor we are getting out of here!: and 

we did. That is the greatest experience I think I have ever had.

—Tuddy Urqhart, December 4, 2003 Interview. VFF Database

http://www.voices.nmfs.gov
22

building industry that built a distinctive local-design fishing boat, but now 

specializes in recreational boats. 

The two schools involved in the LFK Pilot Project developed different 

ways to incorporate the LFK Project into their curriculum. This chapter 

provides practical suggestions based on the experiences of the teachers 

who participated in the project.

 Locating the Project in the Disciplines

J

onesport-Beals High School launched the project in computer, 

business, and entrepreneurship courses. Ellsworth High School 

required all sophomores to participate in the project as part of a tenth 

grade interdisciplinary unit. Each department had specific roles in the 

development, as well as joint responsibility, for the project. Teachers spent 

time during the summer preceding the project outlining their respective 

curricular focus. Ellsworth sophomores were divided into small groups of 

four or five for the purpose of interviewing based on a personality/interest 

inventory. The science teachers assigned students to a group and then asked 

each group to assign specific responsibilities that would include a: 

• Note-taker-database coder: responsible for coding the interviewee 

responses with the database fields 

• Correspondent: acted as interviewer

• Technology Director: made sure interviews were being recorded and 

transcribed correctly

• Leader: responsible for the various components of the interview, 

including the initial recruitment, correspondence with the person 

being interviewed, and successful completion of the interview, 

transcription, entry of information on the NOAA database, and other 

miscellaneous tasks. 

In the first year of this project, Ellsworth student groups worked 

together both during class time and during their 60-minute advisory 

periods. Teachers met during the same advisory time and also during their 

lunch period once a week for planning.
23

 Develop Guiding/Essential Questions

Developing a guiding/essential question is an effective way to 

encourage students to think deeply and provide a structure 

for organizing learning throughout a project. When students 

participate in the development of a question they are truly interested in 

finding the answers to, they engage. A guiding question can help them see 

the connections between the subject matter and their own lives. 

Guiding questions reside at the top of Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom, 

1956), helping students recognize the “why” and “how” and encourage 

inquiry, discussion, and research. A good question will engage students in 

critical thinking, promote curiosity, and develop a questioning approach to 

the curriculum. In order to answer such questions, students must examine 

topics in depth and construct their own meaning and answers from the 

information they gathered. Guiding questions usually lend themselves well 

to multidisciplinary investigations, requiring students to apply the skills and 

perspectives of math and language arts while working with content from 

social studies or science. The goal is a transformation of information and a 

synthesis of new ideas, beliefs, and opinions.

In the Maine LFK Pilot Project, each community chose a different 

guiding question:

• Jonesport-Beals: What is your place in the changing face of your 

community’s marine culture?

• Ellsworth: How does the fishing industry connect to your school’s

community? 

 Creating a Hook for Engaging Students 

In order to maximize learning, it is critical that students are invested early 

in the project. Here are a few suggestions for ways to introduce and engage 

students. Find out what students know about their fishing community:

1. Have students suggest a local fisherman/woman to interview in 

class. This individual may be a parent or acquaintance of one of the 

students, and be an engaging storyteller. After hearing their story, 

students should ask questions, which then become a focus of the 

project.
24

3. Show excerpts from a related film such as The Perfect Storm (2000).

Ask each student to assume the persona of one of the fishermen in 

the movie. He or she should write three to five journal entries about 

the expectation for the trip, the life on a boat at sea, the actual fishing 

experience, the emergence of the storm, and their final feelings 

to their respective families. Students can also go online at http://

perfectstorm.warnerbros.com/cmp/flash-doc-fr.html and watch a 14-

minute documentary featuring residents who actually lived through 

the storm featured in the movie. This activity will help students 

understand what it is like to step into the life of a fisherman.

4. Take students to a museum, aquarium, oceanarium, or marine 

center of interest in your area to learn more about marine life. Ask 

the curator or education staff to talk about the various relationships 

between fishing and marine life. Ask whether it would be possible to 

have students’ exhibits on display at a later date demonstrating what 

the students have 

done through this 

program. 

5. Invite a scientist, an 

environmentalist, 

and a fisherman 

in to discuss with 

the class what they 

see as the changes 

that have taken 

place within the 

fishing industry in 

your area.

2. Do a “block party” strategic learning activity. Write a series of quotes from 

the interviews on the VFF Database on index cards. Have at least one quote per 

participant, or repeat some quotes. Allow the students to randomly select a 

quote and spend a few minutes reflecting upon their quote’s meaning for them 

and their project. Have students mingle and share quotes in pairs. They should 

be encouraged to share with three other people in five-minute segments. Then 

have the whole group share ideas and questions raised by this experience. At the 

end, share the source of the quotes. Do some of the students have stories they 

already know they would like to share with the class? Do any of the students 

have individuals they would recommend for an interview?

Fishermen mending nets in Dulac, LA.

Photo: Palma Ingles
25

6. Have a student fisherman talk about a day in his life fishing and why 

he/she has chosen this occupation.

 Curriculum Ideas for Launching the Project (by discipline)

ENGLISH/SOCIAL STUDIES - Both schools involved with this project assigned 

the book Cod, A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World (Kurlansky, 

1997) to set a social and historical context of fishing for students. It correlates 

the fishing industry with world history by tracing the story of the codfish 

and its demise from the medieval period of European history to the present 

day. It shows the profound impact codfish has played specifically in New 

England and Canada.

Ellsworth High School students were assigned questions in their social 

studies classes for each chapter of the book. Specific issues in the book 

relevant to the LFK Pilot Project were discussed.

Jonesport-Beals students were assigned an Anticipation/Prediction guide 

that included the following questions:

Anticipation/Prediction Guide

(If you agree, please explain)

 AGREE DISAGREE

1. Cod once played a vital economic

 role in our community.

2. Cod once were fished more heavily

 than lobster.

3. Cod stocks have remained constant

 over time.

4. The increase in lobster caught is related

 to the number of cod available to catch.

5. Cod and lobster could coexist and 

 people could fish for both in the same

 fisheries zone.
26

There are many other books that would be excellent as 

background information for this project. An extensive 

list of these books can be found in the reference 

section on the LFK and VFF websites.

SOCIAL STUDIES - Ellsworth High School Social Studies 

teachers had students read “A Once Great Industry on 

the Brink” a four-part series in The Boston Globe (Daley 

and Cook, 2003). The five-day set of articles views 

the fishing industry from a variety of perspectives: 

fishermen, environmentalists, scientists, and federal 

agency regulators. Possible lesson plans could include: 1) Have students 

participate in a debate representing different points of view; 2) Bring in an 

adult counterpart to help the students with each perspective; or 3) Have 

students write a research paper defending their position.

SCIENCE - Teachers assigned all biology science students a Gulf of Maine 

species research paper, and assigned each student the role of Research 

Scientist for the Department of Marine Resources. They chose a species 

that is currently or was historically of economic importance to the Gulf of 

Maine (e.g. lobster, mussels, shrimp, etc. See Appendix D - Sample Science 

Curriculum.)

• Phase One: Students researched their chosen species including the 

following: common name/scientific name, description (including 

photos), habitat description, range description, life cycle, predator/

prey relationships, and potential and known threats to species 

stability.

• Phase Two: Students researched the economic importance of the 

species (both historically and currently) and included the following: 

uses by humans, method fished, current and historic population size, 

and current and historic management effort.

The following assignments were planned but not implemented:

• Phase Three: Students propose a management or restoration plan 

including the following: detailed habitat map with management area 

highlighted, possible impacts to fish species, and possible impact 

to fish industry. Fisheries management personnel review students’ 

management plans. 

We read the Cod book. It gave 

us a lot of background and 

informed us as to how the 

cod industry began and we 

were really able to see how 

abundant the codfish were.

 

—Tierra Woods, student 

at Ellsworth High School, 

Ellsworth, Maine
27

• Phase Four: Students create a power point presentation that could 

be presented to their classmates and/or community.

ENGLISH/SOCIAL STUDIES/BUSINESS/CAREER PREP COURSES - PREPARE 

FOR INTERVIEWS – In preparation for conducting interviews, Ellsworth High 

School and Jonesport-Beals High School students read a variety of actual 

interviews. Students participated in discussion topics such as:

• What makes a good interview topic?

• What makes it interesting?

• Are the questions open ended?

Students brainstormed communication dos and don’ts. After a discussion 

these were recorded and distributed to students as reference material. The 

major discussion of interviewing, recording transcription, and archiving will 

be discussed in the following sections.

 Addressing Learning Standards (State and National) 

T

he No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-110) requires teachers 

to teach to state standards and cover relevant content to ensure 

student success on state and national tests. Teachers can use 

interdisciplinary community-based projects like the LKF Project to enhance 

student understanding of complex academic content as well as create a 

learning environment in which numerous local and state learning standards 

are addressed in an integrated and meaningful way. By attending carefully to 

the standards relevant to the content of the project, teachers can be assured 

that community-based project work is a quality instructional strategy that 

encourages children to practice and apply an abundance of higher order 

skills. Before beginning an LFK-like project, educators and marine organization 

managers should identify local and national learning standards students 

need to meet. Below is a sample of state and national standards addressed in 

Maine’s LFK Pilot Project. 

ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS 

Maine Learning Standards - English

Secondary Grades 9-12

http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/ela.htm
28

Indicator B: Literature and Culture

Students will use reading, listening, and viewing strategies to experience, 

understand, and appreciate literature and culture. Literary texts that are 

rich in quality, add to the understanding of history and various cultures, and 

build an appreciation of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, 

aesthetic) of human experience.

Indicator D: Informational Texts

Students will apply reading, listening, and viewing strategies to 

informational texts across all areas of curriculum. When reading, listening, 

and viewing critically, students will ask pertinent questions, recognize 

assumptions and implications, and evaluate information and ideas. In a 

world that surrounds them with information, they have to be able to connect 

with this information and make sense of it.

Indicator H: Research Related Writing and Speaking

Students will work, write, and speak effectively in connection with 

research in all content areas. Research involves generating ideas and posing 

questions. 

1. Develop an appropriate strategy for finding information on a particular 

topic.

3. Record significant information from events attended and interviews 

conducted.

12. Report orally, using a variety of technological resources to present 

the results of a research project.

National Standards for the English Language Arts

http://www.ncte.org/standards

1. Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an 

understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the 

United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond 

to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for 

personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, 

classic and contemporary works.

 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating 

ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, 
29

and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in 

ways that suit their purpose and audience.

 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources 

(e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and 

synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

SOCIAL STUDIES/HISTORY

Maine Learning Standards – Social Studies

Secondary Grades 9-12 History 

http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/ss.htm

Indicator B: Historical Knowledge, Concepts and Patterns 

Students will develop historical knowledge of major events, people, and enduring 

themes in the United States, in Maine, and throughout world history. 

Indicator C: Historical Inquiry, Analysis, and Interpretation

Students will learn to evaluate resource material such as documents, 

artifacts, maps, artworks, and literature, and to make judgments about the 

perspectives of the authors and their credibility when interpreting current 

historical events. 

Geography

Indicator B. Human Interaction With Environments

Students will understand 

and analyze the relationships 

among people and their 

physical environment. 

Economics Indicator B. 

Students will understand the 

economic system of the United 

States, including its principles, 

development, and institutions. 

Students will be able to 

understand the factors (i.e., 

physical, capital, technology, 

monetary resources) that 

impact the development and 

distribution of a product.

Alaskan purse seiner lifting a catch of herring 

to the deck in the 1970s. 

Photo: NOAA’s Fisheries Collection, J. M. Olson
30

National Standards for Social Studies

Performance Expectations 

http://www.socialstudies.org/standards/strands

III. People, Places, and Environments - Social studies programs should 

include experiences that provide for the study of people, places, and 

environments, so that the learner can:

f. Describe, differentiate, and explain the relationships among 

various regional and global patterns of geographic phenomena 

such as landforms, soils, climate, vegetation, natural resources, 

and population.

VII. Production, Distribution, and Consumption – Social studies programs 

should include experiences that provide for the study of how people 

organize for the production, distribution, and consumption o goods 

and services.

SCIENCE

Maine Learning Standards – Science and Technology

http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/st.htm

Indicator J: Inquiry and Problem-Solving 

Students will apply inquiry and problem-solving approaches in science and 

technology. 

Students will be able to:

1. Verify, evaluate, and use results in a purposeful Way. This includes 

analyzing and interpreting data, making predictions based on 

observed patterns, testing solutions against the original problem 

conditions, and formulating additional questions.

Indicator M: Implications of Science and Technology

Students will understand the historical, social, economic, environmental, 

and ethical implications of science and technology. 

Students will be able to:

2. Demonstrate the importance of resource management, controlling 

environmental impacts, and maintaining natural ecosystems.
31

National Science Standards

Content Standard A 

All students should develop abilities to understand scientific inquiry. 

Concepts related to this standard:

• Identify questions and concepts that guide scientific investigations

• Design and conduct scientific investigations

• Communicate and defend a scientific argument

Life Science

Content Standard E

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4962&page=107#p20007cea9960107002

All students should develop abilities of technological design and 

understandings about science and technology. 

Abilities of technological design:

• Identify a problem or design an opportunity. 

• Propose designs and choose between alternative solutions. 

• Implement a proposed solution. 

• Evaluate the solution and its consequences.

• Communicate the problem, process, and solution. 

 Environmental Literacy

Agap exists between the scientific knowledge and skills most students 

learn in school and what they will need in 21st century communities 

and workplaces. NOAA believes integration of environmental literacy frameworks into formal and informal education is an important contribution toward addressing this gap in science literacy. The agency’s support and promotion of experiential and place-based education programs 

extends the classroom to teach concepts through interdisciplinary methods 

that improve the active engagement of students in real scientific inquiry, 

increase the incorporation of important environmental concepts, and improve environmental stewardship behavior.

Environmental literacy is the capacity to act in daily life on a broad 

understanding of how people and societies relate to each other and natural 

systems. Environmental literacy is an integral component needed to achieve 

NOAA’s goals to manage marine resources and protect life and property. In 

its Education Plan (www.oesd.noaa.gov/NOAA_Ed_Plan.pdf), NOAA defines 

an environmentally literate person as “someone who has a fundamental 
32

understanding of the systems of that natural world, the relationships and 

interactions between the living and non-living environment, and has the 

ability to understand and utilize scientific evidence to make informed 

decisions regarding environmental issues.” The plan refers to the need for 

“a new generation of environmental citizens” to address the urgency of 

“prudent stewardship of our ocean and atmospheric resources given the 

pace of global change.” The Agency’s mission includes the advancement of 

educational efforts and engagement of “a broader community of partners 

in creating an environmentally literate society and a viable workforce in 

ocean, coastal, weather, and climate sciences to encourage stewardship 

and increase informed decision making for the Nation” (NOAA, 2008).

It is important that schools, youth, and their communities be included 

in the conversations about the management and protection of their coastal 

marine and ocean environments so that they become environmentally 

literate and can understand the complexities of securing viable futures in 

their communities. Several of the LFK Pilot Project activities help students 

develop attitudes of appreciation and concern for the environment as well 

as the capacity for action and participation. 

 Integration of Literacy Strategies

One of the challenges we addressed in the LFK Pilot Project was 

the generally low literacy skills of students. In partnership with 

the Center for Resource Management (CRM), we helped teachers 

expand their capacity to infuse literacy instruction into LFK Pilot Project 

activities that invovled reading, writing, research, presenting and critical 

thinking (Appendix E: Planning for the Use of Literacy Support Strategies). 

Below are some questions teachers may want to consider as they 

plan curricular activities (Meltzer, 2007):

READING (may include online sources)

1. What types of READING will the project include/require? 

2. How will best practices in reading instruction be included as part of 

the project design (including collaborative protocols for looking at 

texts, strategic reading, note-taking and vocabulary development 

strategies)?

3. What specific reading skills will be taught/modeled? (skimming, 

main idea, question generating, etc.)

4. How will differentiation strategies be implemented to address the 

needs of all student participants?
33

RESEARCH/INQUIRY (includes technology)

1. What type of RESEARCH/INQUIRY will the project require?

2. What specific research skills will be taught/modeled? (hypothesis 

generating, summarizing, organizing, note-taking, semantic feature 

analysis, etc.)

WRITING (includes technology)

1. What types of public WRITING will the project require?

2. How will writing instruction and the writing process be incorporated 

into the project?

3. What specific writing skills will be modeled/taught? (use of rubrics 

to analyze drafts, summarizing, development or retention of voice, 

editing, formal versus informal uses of language, etc.)

SPEAKING/PRESENTING

1. What types of SPEAKING/PRESENTING will the project require?

2. What types of speaking/presentation skills will be taught? (interview 

techniques, development and use of visuals, audience awareness)

CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING

Note: Thinking skills are essential to all aspects of literacy but should be 

thought of separately to ensure all participating students are assisted in 

developing their critical and creative thinking skills/problem-solving skills 

as an integral part of project design and implementation.

1. Specifically, what instructional strategies will be taught to brainstorm, 

focus, and organize ideas?

2. How will instruction support students’ analytical and evaluative skill 

development during the project and how will the skill be evaluated?

3. How will project products 

specifically require synthesis of 

information across sources and/

or adaptation of information to 

audience?

INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT

Instruction and assessment must 

be planned as an integral part of the 

project design and implementation. 

Assessment should be formative as 

well as diagnostic and summative with 

regard to literacy habits and skills (see 

Assessing Outcomes, page 75).

Scientists working on offshore net pen off of Catalina 

Island, California in 2000. 

Photo: NOAA’s Fisheries Collection
34
35

T

his section’s goal is to prepare you—teachers and schools, or other 

organizations or groups—to deal with the legal and ethical issues 

inherent in recording personal accounts. When you begin an oral 

history project of any kind, you must be informed about the ethical guidelines 

one is expected to adhere to when conducting and recording oral history 

interviews, no matter the purpose. There are laws that govern copyright 

issues that may also apply to recorded and/or transcribed oral histories. 

This section highlights these ethical and legal issues, and points out other 

resources for learning more about them. Finally, we discuss the interview 

release forms that NOAA’s Voices from the Fisheries Project requires be 

signed by interview participants before newly collected oral histories can 

be entered into the database. 

ETHICAL & LEGAL ISSUES 

FOR INTERVIEWS

It is important everyone you, your students, or your organization 

interviews knows who is interviewing them. In addition to all the names 

of those who are participating in the interview and where they are from, 

interviewers must let the interviewee know the who and why of your project 

—who is conducting it and why they are conducting it. This applies to school 

projects, projects by other institutions and organizations, businesses, or any 

other entity. For example, if you are a teacher who decides to do a classroom 

oral history project interviewing fishermen in your area like the project in 

Ellsworth and Jonesport-Beals, Maine High Schools, your students must tell 

the prospective interviewee their interview is part of your school project. 

If more than one person will be conducting the interview, the interviewee 

should know who each member of the interview team is and their role in 

the interview.

Interviewees must agree to have their interviews recorded. Anyone 

conducting an oral history interview, including students, should explain to 

the person what you or your group will do with the recorded interview. Be 

explicit about all the ways that the interview will be used.

 Some Generally Accepted Ethical Guidelines for Interviewing
36

Interviewees must also agree to have copies of their interview 

shared with others, whether by making copies of the recording itself and 

passing them along, or by transcribing the content of the interviews, and 

then giving the transcription to others. Otherwise, it is not ethical to give 

copies of the interview to others.

If a copy of the interview is going to be placed on NOAA’s Voices 

Database, accessed at www.voices.nmfs.noaa.gov, the interviewee needs 

to understand his or her interview will become public, which means it

will be available for everyone to read who has access to the internet. 

Additionally, others can make copies of the interview, and they may use 

the copies for their own purposes. For example, a scholar or a journalist 

writing about fisherman might listen to or read their interview and then 

quote passages from it in what they write. There is no way to restrict access 

or use by others once the interview becomes public through placement on 

the Voices Database. 

While it is usual to ask biographical details like where and when a 

person was born, what work they are or were involved in, and what town 

they now live in during an interview, it is not acceptable to record personal 

data like exact addresses and phone numbers while interviews are being 

recorded. Never ask for social security numbers. It is necessary to protect 

interviewees’ privacy. Remember that the interviews you collect may be 

widely shared with others. 

Oral history project usually collect information like addresses and 

phone numbers in written form as part of the background information 

needed by interviewers for locating interviewees. Oral history projects 

develop and use biographical data forms so that demographic information 

can be used to group completed interviews into categories like “female” 

and “male,” “began fishing before 1976” or “began fishing after 1976,” or 

“active commercial fisherman” and “retired commercial fisherman.” This 

information must be held in a safe place. 

We call the process described above “obtaining informed consent.” 

Obtaining informed consent is an essential part of all oral history and other 

interviewing projects, indeed of all contemporary research that involves 

human beings. Those conducting and recording interviews have the 

responsibility to obtain informed consent from all interviewees.
37

And a few final points:

• Give interviewees information on how they can contact your group 

later if they have questions about the interview. 

• Give the interviewee a copy of their interview recording. If you, your 

students, or your organization transcribe the interview, your group 

should also give them a copy of the transcription. 

The fish auction for commercially-caught fish, 1997. 

Portland, Maine.

Photo: NOAA’s Fisheries Collection, William B. Folsom

 Release Forms and Why We Use Them

Today it is common practice to have everyone involved in an interview sign a 

release form. Different release forms are signed by the person being interviewed and 

the person or persons conducting the interview. Others involved in the interview are also 

asked to sign release forms, e.g., if someone is operating the recording device but not 

asking questions, they should also sign an appropriate release form. 

A signed release form is regarded as evidence that informed consent has been 

obtained for the interview to be recorded and to be used in the specific manner described 

in the release form. Release forms, when properly written up, provide legal protections for 

everyone involved in an interview. They typically also affirm an interviewee’s ownership of 

the copyright associated with the interview. 

We strongly urge anyone developing an oral history project to develop a set of 

release forms for their project. If you are working with a school or other institution or 

organization, you may be required to have their legal staff review your project’s release 

forms. Be sure to build in enough time to develop and get approval for your release forms 

if approval is required.

NOAA’s VFF Database Project 

has developed a set of release 

forms for use by anyone who 

wants to develop a new fisheries or 

marine-related oral history project 

for inclusion on the VFF Database, 

or to donate already existing oral 

histories to the VFF Database. Before 

a person can add their interviews to 

the VFF Database, they are required 

to warrant that they have obtained 

signed release forms. 
38

The NOAA VFF Release Forms were developed in consultation with 

the General Council Offices of NOAA and the Department of Commerce to 

meet legal requirements when donating oral history interviews to NOAA’s VFF 

Database. They should be used by those interviewed and their interviewers, 

as well as those who are donating interviews collected by others from 

whom they have obtained permission to donate to the VFF Database. The 

interviewee, or his or her heirs if they are making the donation, reserve to 

themselves any copyright or performance rights that they may hold. These 

forms may provide good models for anyone who needs to develop a set 

of release forms for oral history projects for different purposes. The NOAA 

VFF Release Forms can be downloaded from the Voices website at www.

voices.nmfs.noaa.gov, and are also found in Appendix F in this handbook. 

To reiterate a point made earlier, although the donated interviews are 

intended for scholarly and educational purposes by NOAA and the public, 

NOAA cannot control the uses that the public makes of donated interviews 

once they are placed on the VFF Database.

 Where to Find More Information about Ethical and Legal Issues Related 

to Oral History

Many resources are available to the public through the internet that 

can provide more detailed information on the issues discussed above. An 

excellent place to start is the Oral History Association’s website at http://

www.oralhistory.org/contact-us/ .

The Oral History Association provides a useful series of publications 

including their Oral History Evaluation Guidelines (1991) that can be 

downloaded at http://www.oralhistory.org/network/mw/index.php/

Evaluation_Guide. This publication has been adopted by the National 

Endowment for the Humanities as the standard for conducting oral history. 

It includes a detailed discussion of ethical issues related to collecting oral 

histories. 

Another useful website is the U.S. Copyright Office’s website: http://

www.copyright.gov/. This site provides useful information about U.S. 

copyright law, including easy to understand explanations of what copyright 

is, how one obtains it, and the fair use of copyright protected materials by 

scholars, students, journalists, and the public. This relates to the use of oral 

history interviews that have been collected and then donated for inclusion 

on publicly accessible databases like NOAA’s VFF Database. 
39

RECORDING 

TECHNOLOGIES & 

RELATED MATTERS

I

nterviews can be recorded by hand using paper and pencil or pen, by 

tape (analog) or digital recorders, by appropriately equipped laptop 

computers, and by digital videotaping with sound. A photograph of the 

person being interviewed can become part of the record too, and digital 

technology makes it easy to insert the photograph into the transcribed 

interview document itself. Both video and film-based and digital still 

photography can be used to document techniques and processes described 

in interviews, e.g., how to build a boat or knit a lobster trap net head. They 

are also useful for documenting objects that may be otherwise hard for 

someone to visualize from just listening to an audio-recorded interview or 

reading its transcription, e.g., a distinctive local boat hull, or a particular kind 

of fish trap. Each recording technology has its own strengths and limitations, 

and its place, but a project’s budget may be the factor determining the final 

decision about interview recording methods. 

Technologies are constantly improved or changed, so contact technology 

experts to discuss your needs before you make your equipment choices. What 

we describe here will probably become obsolete in the near future, so specific 

recommendations about equipment. You can also find discussions about the 

relative strengths of different recording technologies on several of the oral 

history websites we list in the resources section. 

Here are some things to think about while you are deciding how to 

record the oral histories you will be collecting. 

 Paper and Pencil or Pen

Advantages: This technology is universally available and inexpensive. It can 

be used by anyone with basic literacy skills. 

Limitations: It is very difficult to capture the exact words of the interview 

precisely as they are said. It takes the interviewer’s attention away from the 

interviewee because the interviewer has to concentrate on speedily and 
40

accurately recording the words that she or he is hearing as they are being 

spoken. This means that the interviewer/note taker cannot easily engage 

in conversational probes that keep an interview flowing like “tell me more 

about that,” the follow up questions like “was your father a fisherman too?”, 

and nods and encouraging “uhhuh’s” that let the interviewee know that the 

interviewer is interested and is listening.

Note Taking Still Has a Place: Despite these limitations, some note taking 

should be done during an interview. It is useful to jot down basic topics as 

they come up, and to write down follow-up questions to pursue with the 

interviewee. Notes can also be used to reconstruct interviews if something 

happens to the recording equipment during an interview.

Life Expectancy: Written or printed notes or transcriptions of recorded 

interviews written or printed on acid-free paper and stored in controlled 

conditions can last for centuries. Any paper with acid content has a 

shortened life expectancy. The poorest quality paper meant to be thrown 

away like newsprint deteriorates very quickly. To prevent loss of written 

or printed interviews or interview notes, acid-free paper should be used, 

and proper storage conditions should be maintained. This technology is the 

most stable of all the recording technologies. This is an important reason to 

take the time to produce written transcriptions of all recorded interviews, 

ensuring that they will be available to future generations.

 Tape (Analog) Recorders

Advantages: Tape recorders enable exact recording of interviews. Exact 

recordings capture not only the words of an interviewee, but also other 

dimensions of speech including tone, inflection, and pauses, which 

themselves contain important information about the meaning of the words. 

An interviewee’s distinctive dialect and language will also be preserved. 

Tapes can be copied and shared with others. Tapes can be listened to over 

and over. 

Limitations: Tape recorders produce machine noise that can be heard on the 

recording. Although one can use the rewind/play functions on audiotape 

recorders to repeat sections of a recording while transcribing an interview, 

it is not very efficient and will increase the time it takes to complete 

interview transcriptions. Special transcribing equipment can be purchased 

that will help with this operation, but it means additional cost. Audio or 
41

analog tapes are becoming obsolete, replaced by 

digital audio recorders. Archives like the Voices 

from the Fisheries Database (see page73) can only 

accept digital audio recordings so you would have 

to convert analog tape recordings to digital audio 

recordings before you could contribute a copy of 

any marine-focused oral history to that database.

Audio Tapes: Only good quality 60 to 90 min audio 

tapes should be used. Only use full-sized audio tape 

cassettes; do not use the mini cassettes. Plan to make 

at minimum one additional copy of each original 

taped interview. Do not forget to give a copy of the 

interview to the person being interviewed, so buy 

at least three times as many tapes as you need to 

initially record the interviews. Some interviews may 

last up to two hours or more, so you need to take multiple tapes to each 

interview session to ensure you can record the entire interview without 

running out of tapes. 

Power Sources: Recorders can be powered with batteries, or by plugging 

them into a main power source. Batteries provide reliable steady power 

and allow you to record in locations where no main power source is readily 

available, but they must be checked periodically to make sure they are not 

running low on power. Always carry a supply of fresh batteries. Always 

check your battery level periodically during an interview to make sure the 

batteries continue to deliver sufficient power to make a good recording. 

If you use a main power source, you still need to check it to make sure 

that it is steady, and not fluctuating in ways that will affect the quality of a 

particular recording. 

Cost: Cost for recorders ranges from relatively inexpensive models for 

the home user for as little as $30 to much more expensive professional 

models that can cost over $500. The price for good quality audio tapes 

ranges between $1 and $3 per tape. Cost for batteries varies according to 

battery size and battery life expectancy. If you use batteries, try to get longlife batteries. Rechargeable batteries may save expense in the long run. 

Specialized transcription equipment ranges in price too. 

Life Expectancy: Audio tape—a magnetic media—deteriorates over time; 

its life expectancy stored under good archival conditions is estimated at 10-

Demonstrating using video recording 

equipment at the Virgin Islands 

Aquatic Heritage Teaching Training 

Workshop in St. Croix, USVI, 2008. 

Photo: Susan Abbott-Jamieson
42

30 years. A related issue is the life expectancy of the recording equipment 

itself and the future availability of the technology needed to listen to audio 

or view video recordings. These issues are of great concern to the world’s 

archivists and librarians. For discussions of magnetic media life expectancy 

issues, see Van Bogart (1995) and Byers (2003). 

Other: The original interview tapes should be copied; they should also 

be transferred to a CD-R. All transcription work should be done using the 

copy, not the original recording. If the recordings are transferred to CDs, 

transcription can easily be done on a computer.

 Digital Recorders 

Advantages: Digital recordings can be downloaded directly onto a computer 

for transcription. Once they are transferred to a computer, copies can easily 

be made on CDs. Digital recorders do not produce machine background 

noise, the whirring picked up by analog recorders when remote microphones 

are not used. 

Limitations: You will need special software for transforming the digital 

recording into a file format like an MP3 file to reduce the space required 

to store the recording. You will also need the software to enable you to 

transcribe the recorded material. Some digital recorders come with their 

own software. You can also buy transcription software. Locate a resource 

person in your local area who can help you choose the best software for 

your needs within your budget.

Power Source: See the discussion above for tape recorders. The same 

considerations apply for digital recorders when deciding on what power 

source fits your particular recording conditions.

Cost: Digital recorders range from as little as $50 to over $1,000 for high end, 

professional recorders, however relatively small, easily used digital recorders 

of excellent quality are available in the $200-$300 range. A recent internet 

search produced transcription software costs in the $150-$300 range.

Life Expectancy: When transferred to write-once CDs, these recordings 

have longer life expectancy/stability than audio tapes. Life expectancy 

varies depending on the kind of CD used, storage conditions, handling 

and use. Equipment used to play back recordings also changes, and future 

obsolescence of this equipment can mean loss of recordings. 
43

 Microphones

Advantages: Sound quality will be improved if you use independent 

microphones for both tape and digital recorders. Microphones help 

eliminate the whirring machine noise from a recording made on an analog 

or tape recorder. It is best to use two lapel microphones—one pinned to 

the person being interviewed, the other to the interviewer. If you have a 

single microphone, put it on a table or other resting place between the 

interviewer(s) and the person being interviewed. Microphones are very 

sensitive, so rest it on a piece of foam or other cushioning material so that 

it does not pick up scraping or other noises during the interview. Try to 

conduct interviews in environments with minimal background noise of all 

kinds so that sensitive microphones don’t pick up other sounds that make 

it difficult to hear the interview itself.

Costs: Microphones vary in cost reflecting their design—wired or wireless, 

omnidirectional, bidirectional, etc., and their quality. Costs can range from 

$15 to more than $200 depending on your needs. 

Detailed, technical discussions about everything from different 

recording technologies to how to safely archive recorded material can 

be accessed on the internet. We recommend familiarizing yourself 

with the strengths and limitations of the standard ways oral history materials 

are collected well ahead of starting any project. Do not overlook talking with 

media technical staff at your school or other technical experts if you have 

access to them; they can be very helpful. Ask others for names of people in 

your community with appropriate technical expertise, and then contact them 

to get their advice. A general piece of advice is to buy the best equipment 

that your project can afford to ensure that you will produce good quality 

recordings. If recording quality is poor, their usefulness will be diminished.

Once you have decided how to record the materials you will be 

collecting, and have acquired a recording device, take time to practice 

using the recording device so that you and everyone participating in your 

project are equally comfortable with the technology. Experiment with the 

equipment to see how different amounts and kinds of background noise 

affect the recording quality. This will help you decide how to arrange or 

modify recording sessions when you are conducting oral history interviews in 

interviewees’ homes or in public settings to ensure good quality recordings. 

Below are some internet accessible references in the References section to 

help you locate useful information on recording technologies. 
44

 Some Helpful Resources for Recording Technology

Byers, Fred R. Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs: A Guide for Librarians 

and Archivists. Pp. 48, 2003. Accessed at http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/

pub121/pub121.pdf (accessed 1 August 2008).

Kolvos, Andy. Digital Audio Field Recording Equipment. Vermont Folklife 

Center, 2008. Accessed at http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/archive/

res_audioequip.htm (accessed 15 December 2008).

Kolvos, Andy. Digital Editing of Field Audio. Vermont Folklife Center. Accessed 

at http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/archive/res_digitalediting.htm

(accessed 15 December 2008).

Van Bogart, John W.C. Van. Magnetic Tape Storage and Handling: A Guide for 

Libraries and Archives. Washington, D.C.: The Commission on Preservation 

and Access and the National Media Laboratory, 1995. Accessed at http://

www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub54/index.html (accessed 1 August 2008).

 
45

INTERVIEWING

I

nterviewing is the core activity in any 

Voices oral history project. Interviewing is 

a skill that people can learn to do with some 

guidelines to follow, some planning ahead, 

and practice. While most will not become 

professional interviewers with the skill of a 

good journalist, folklorist or oral historian, 

anthropologist or sociologist, one can still 

learn enough good technique to carry out an 

acceptable oral history interview. This section 

describes the steps involved in preparing for, 

conducting, recording, transcribing, copying, 

and storing or archiving for preserving and 

sharing completed interviews. 

Although these instructions are weighted toward teachers 

implementing VFF projects in their classrooms, they can easily be applied 

to any group’s needs. No matter who is interviewing, these steps will help 

them prepare for, conduct, record, and transcribe interviews. The steps 

covered in this section include How to Start, Conducting the Interview, and 

Next Steps with Interview Recordings. The concluding section recommends 

additional resources for those who want to learn more about developing 

their interviewing skills and handling recorded interviews once they have 

been collected. 

This section combines recommendations based on teachers’ 

experiences with the LFK Pilot Project, suggestions provided in multiple 

publications and websites devoted to interviewing in general and oral 

history interviewing in particular, and the authors’ experience and training 

as educators and professional social scientists. 

What I realized is that it is not so much 

what you want to sell but you have to 

sell what people want to buy. Long way 

around, when people come to Maine, 

they want lobster, blueberry pie, and a 

water view; I’ve done some research

on this. Maine seafood, it is some of the 

best in the world. That is sort of the long 

way around in that story. You’ve got to sell 

what people want to buy and that is what 

they want to buy.

—Brian Langley, May 12, 2004, 

Interview. VFF Database - 

http://www.voices.nmfs.noaa.gov/
46

All interviewing is a conversation with another person, although it 

is a special kind of conversation. We all engage in conversations every day, 

and so we already have many of the skills that are outlined below. 

 How to Start

Identify People to Interview

If you are a teacher, brainstorm with other teachers who are 

participating in the project to identify all the ways you can locate potential 

interviewees. Teachers can also carry out this activity in their classrooms 

with the students who will be participating in the project. For example, 

during one of their advisory periods at Ellsworth High School every student 

and teacher in the school was asked to write down names of people they 

thought would be good to interview. The students then entered these 

names into a database of potential interviewees. 

Other approaches to locating potential interviewees that teachers 

can consider trying are listed below.

APPROACHES TO LOCATE POTENTIAL INTERVIEWEES

• Ask students to list names of family members and friends who have a 

connection with marine fishing or the marine environment.

• Ask students to read local newspapers for articles connected to marine 

fishing and the marine environment to locate potential interviewees.

• Solicit names of people to interview on flyers and posters placed throughout 

the community.

• Check with local radio and TV stations to see if they will mention your search 

for people to interview during their broadcasts. 

• Ask the people you interview to suggest other people they think would be 

interested in being interviewed. They will usually know others who would be 

good candidates for an interview. 

For those who are not classroom teachers, try brainstorming with 

other members of your historical society or fisherman’s organization, or 
47

whatever entity you belong to that wants to carry out VFF interviews. If you 

are an individual who wants to participate on your own. Talk to others who 

share your interest—family, neighbors, friends, co-workers—to develop 

your interviewee list. If you or your organization belongs to a listserve with 

a relevant focus, try putting out a call for participants on that listserve. 

The suggestions listed above for teachers can be adapted for use by any 

organization or individual. 

Decide on Team Interviews versus One-on-One Interviews

Many oral history interviews are carried out by one individual 

who interviews another individual without other people present. This is 

a time honored and excellent way to conduct interviews, and it may be 

the way you decide to structure your interview sessions. Many teachers, 

however, have found that dividing students into interview teams of two to 

five students works very well for school-based projects. Advantages of this 

approach include dividing the tasks involved in any interview among a set 

of people so that they can provide back-up for each other. This seems to 

improve student confidence in successfully completing assigned interviews. 

Both Ellsworth and Jonesport-Beals High Schools used the team interview 

approach for their interviews, which was already described in an earlier 

section of this handbook (see page 20). Teachers should decide which 

approach they plan to use before they begin preparing their students for 

their interviews because it will affect the way they organize the interview 

practice sessions. Whichever approach is selected, practice sessions should 

be conducted utilizing that approach.

Prepare for the Interview

Find out about the person who 

will be interviewed. Those conducting 

interviews must learn as much as possible 

about each person they interview. This will 

help the interviewer create appropriate 

and pertinent questions and help them 

demonstrate interest during an interview. 

The latter is important for establishing 

good rapport with any interviewee. 

Jonesport/Beals High School student 

interviewers with retired fisherman, 

Tuddy Urquardt, in his home following his 

interview in 2003. Photo: Linda Church
48

Find out about the subjects to be covered in each interview. Those 

conducting interviews must prepare for the interview process by learning 

about the subject areas that may be covered in an interview. A good way to 

do this is to read through or listen to interviews other people have done on 

similar topics. 

A growing inventory of interviews can be accessed on NOAA’s VFF 

website at http:/www.voices.nmfs.noaa.gov. To access the interviews, click 

on the Search Interviews button and select the most pertinent topic areas to 

locate interviews with relevant content. Some are transcriptions of interviews 

in PDF files, others are MP3 digital audio files, and some interviews have both 

transcribed text and audio files. The complete interviews can be viewed or 

listened to directly on the site itself. They can also be downloaded to your own 

computer. You will be able to view and print copies of the PDF files, and listen to 

the audio digital files with your computer’s media player or on any MP3 audio 

player once you load the file to the player. 

A good training exercise for teachers and their students is to read 

or listen to sample interviews and underline or flag in some way what they 

consider to be good interview strategies, and the parts of the interview they 

found especially enjoyable or surprising. They can also look for examples 

of poor interviewing strategy when questions seemed to produce no 

information, or an interruption caused an interviewee to stop talking. Once 

this task has been completed, the class can pick one interview to discuss 

in detail as a group. Here are a few discussion questions to help you frame 

questions for your own classroom.

• What subjects were discussed in the interview?

• What was the most surprising thing that you learned? Why were you 

surprised?

• What types of questions were asked? Were these questions open-ended or 

closed questions? 

• Was this interview a good one? Why or why not?

• What questions would you have asked differently? 

• What would have made the interview better? 

• Does the person who did the interview seem to have done pre-interview 

research?

• Can you explain why you think that is so?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
49

Individuals can conduct this same training process by themselves 

to improve their own interviewing skills, and this approach can also be 

adapted for use by community organizations that are planning to conduct 

marine environment and fisheries focused interviews. 

Prepare Interview Questions

Whether an oral history project is part of a school project, or 

conducted by a community organization or individual, the next step in 

preparing for actual interviews is to create a set of interview questions 

based on the research and interview preparation work described in the 

previous sections. Sometimes those who are preparing for interviews do 

not prepare specific questions, but rather prepare well thought through 

topics or thematic lists. They then use these lists as memory aids to make 

sure that they ask the interviewee to talk about each topic. Whether you 

prepare an interview guide made up of specific questions, or one listing the 

topics you plan to ask your interviewee to talk about, the important thing 

is you have thought through what you hope to learn from the interviews 

that you will conduct. This is the only way you can ensure that you and your 

interviewee will together produce a successful interview. 

To help teachers and others think about how to craft good questions 

for interviews, we have prepared a few guidelines. The first set of guidelines 

can be reviewed in Table 1: Question Types to Use and to Avoid during 

Interviews. This table points out that the best questions are usually openended questions that encourage the interviewee to expand on a topic. This 

kind of question is contrasted with closed questions that allow interviewees 

to answer with simple yes or no responses. If one uses too many questions 

structured this way, an interview will be very short; you will not learn very 

much because this kind of question does not encourage interviewees to 

expand on their knowledge. Leading questions should also be guarded 

against because they usually produce answers that are “forced” by the 

way the question itself has been framed. In this case, you have no way 

of knowing if the answer accurately reflects what the person interviewed 

thinks or believes. It may actually reflect what you have “led” them to say. 

Table 2: Some More Useful Question Types for Interviews illustrates three 

more ways to think about interview questions. Memory questions are very 

good questions to use in the early stages of an interview. They are questions 

that will put the interviewee at ease and are usually easy to answer. The 

answers provide important background information about an interviewee; 
50

information important for placing him or her in time and space. Examples 

of these kinds of questions include asking the person their full name, when 

and where they were born, where they grew up, who their mother and 

father were, and where their parents grew up. Other good questions include 

what the interviewee’s occupation or profession is, where they work, how 

long they have worked there, or if they are retired—where they worked 

before they retired. 

Explanation questions serve to encourage interviewees to expand 

on the experiences they are describing, the stories they are telling, and to 

explain their responses to these events in their lives. Explanation questions 

will usually be phrased as open ended questions. Some examples include: 

“What caused event X?”, “Why was this event different from the other event 

you just described?” “What is going on in this photograph you’re holding? 

I don’t understand what I’m seeing.” Other examples are listed in Table 2.

Finally, Judgment Questions offer interviewees a chance to talk 

about what they think was good or bad, important or less important. They 

allow the interviewee to sum up and draw conclusions about the events 

they described and to give his or her own interpretation of events and 

experiences. Some judgment questions are most appropriate as an interview 

begins to reach its natural conclusion, while others can be used throughout 

Question 

Type Examples Comment

Openended

I would like to hear about 

life on a fishing vessel. Tell 

me about the tasks you do 

during a typical day on the 

water. 

Tell me how you learned to 

operate a dredge.

•

•

Invites the person interviewed to develop a line of 

conversation expanding on the initial query from 

the interviewer.

Closed

Can you tell me about life 

on a fishing vessel?

Did your father teach you 

to operate a dredge?

•

•

Both pull for a simple Yes or No answer. They require 

follow up questions. Sometimes Yes or No is what 

is needed, e.g., to confirm something just said, but 

avoid this way of phrasing questions when one is 

really wanting the person to expand on the subject.

Leading

Everyone says that fishing 

is a hard way to make a 

living today. Don’t you 

think so too?

• Sets up the interviewee to respond similarly to the 

opinion just expressed by the person conducting the 

interview. It is hard for an interviewee to challenge 

the person interviewing them and say something 

different. Avoid this kind of question.

Table 1: Question Types to Use and to Avoid during Interviews

(Adapted from Michael Gatto, History Channel Workbook, n.d., Gatto, 2009) 
51

Question 

Type Examples Comment

Memory

Tell me your full name.

Where you were born? 

What year were you born?

What were your father’s 

and your mother’s names?

Where did you grow up?

How long have you lived in 

this area?

Can you remember when 

you first wanted to become 

a fisheries biologist? Tell 

me about it.

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Begin with memory questions. Memory questions 

will help interviewees relax and get them in the 

mood to reminisce. These questions will help you 

gather information about your subject’s personal 

experiences.

Explanation

What caused this event...?

Why did this happen...?

What happened next...?

Can you describe the scene 

in one word...?

Can you compare two 

events...?

Explain the reason for...?

What conclusion can you 

draw...?

What is your point of view 

about...?

Can you describe the 

scene...?

Can you explain a 

photograph...?

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

These questions encourage interviewees to 

expand and explain their feelings and ideas. 

These second stage questions should encourage 

interviewees to dig deeper into the stories to 

explain why things happened and how they 

relate to other events.

Judgment

What is your happiest 

(funniest or saddest) 

memory of (marine-related 

job) ?

What was your biggest 

accomplishment?

What actions would you 

change if you had a chance 

to relive those years again?

What mistakes did people 

make during this period or 

event (related to marine 

job/environment)?

What should people today 

remember about this time/

event?

•

•

•

•

•

These questions offer interviewees a chance 

to talk about what they think was good or 

bad, important or less important. This is your 

interviewee’s opportunity to give his or her own 

interpretation of events and experiences. These 

questions should be asked when the stories 

about specific episodes or experiences appear 

to be reaching their conclusion because they 

allow the interviewee to reflect on the meaning 

of these experiences to the person, their family, 

and/or their community.

Table 2: Some More Useful Question Types for Interviews

(Adapted from Michael Gatto, History Channel Workbook, n.d., Gatto, 2009) 
52

the interview whenever an interviewee appears to have completed relating 

a particular story or life episode. 

It is also good practice to anchor events in time throughout an 

interview, so whenever an interviewee talks about changing their job or 

moving their home, or mentions some event that they think is important, ask 

them the approximate date or year when that event occurred. If they cannot 

remember the date, ask them if it happened before or after other events they 

mention in their interview, e.g., before or after they left school, got married, 

changed from fishing for tuna to fishing for salmon, and so forth. This can 

be helpful in establishing relative timelines for events in a person’s life. You 

can also ask them to relate events to important historical events that most 

people will know about. Examples of this dating strategy would be asking 

the person if the event happened before or after the Korean War, before or 

after the Vietnam War, or before or after 9/11 (the New York World Trade 

Center attack), or before or after some major local or regional event that 

most people in your area will note and remember like Hurricane Katrina on 

the Gulf of Mexico coast. Because you know the actual dates of these events, 

they will help you assign dates to events in the interviewee’s life. 

Once students have prepared sample questions, teachers may 

consider having students model the different question types in mock 

interviews as a classroom training exercise. Community organizations could 

conduct similar training exercises for their members who plan to conduct 

interviews. 

Prepare an Introduction

All oral history interviewers must think through and prepare ahead 

of time an introductory statement that they will use when they first meet 

with the person they will be interviewing. This statement or set of remarks 

serve to introduce those who will be participating in the interview to each 

other, to frame and focus the interview for the interviewee, and to inform 

the interviewee about the purpose of the interview, the uses to which it will 

be put so far as those are known, and to ensure that you will have thought 

through before hand what you want to accomplish during the interview. 

Teachers can have their students write an introduction to each interview 

they plan to conduct that introduces those from the school who will be 

involved in the interview, and includes an explanation of the project and its 

purpose. 
53

Interview Practice

Students should have an opportunity to practice, discuss, and observe interviews 

before they go out on their own. Some suggestions for how to do this in classroom settings 

include conducting fish bowl interviews, dividing the classroom into pairs of students to 

interview each other, and assigning students to interview their own or a friend’s parent, 

grandparent, or neighbor, or watching video-taped interviews. These strategies are best 

after the class has observed good role models and have interview rubrics in hand.

A fishbowl interview is a classroom discussion group in which the class is divided 

into two groups. One group participates; the rest of the class observes and listens. An 

interview is then staged between the teacher and a guest, or alternately between a group 

of students who have already done interviews and a guest. The students in the participating 

group are encouraged to note the types of questions used by those interviewing the guest, 

e.g., closed versus open-ended questions, memory questions, and so forth. They need to 

write out questions on a 3x5 card that they would have asked as the interviewer. At the 

end of the interview, students share their observations and questions. The exercise can be 

repeated by assigning the group of students previously assigned to observe and listen, to 

take on the role of the participating group, while the those who previously participated, 

now become observers.

Paired student interviews consists of having students interview with each other, 

followed by a critique of how the students felt the interview went, identifying ways that 

it could have been improved. It is a good idea to pair up students so that they do not 

interview their best friend, or interview someone from their friendship clique. The reason 

to avoid this is that when we interview others whom we know well, we tend to assume 

we already know their answers to questions we might ask them so we don’t ask those 

questions. If we had asked the questions, they may well have produced answers that 

were unexpected; we may not know as 

much about a person as we think we know. 

There is also an increased tendency for 

the person being interviewed to answer 

in ways that maintain or preserve the 

preexisting relationship within whatever 

bounds already exist for that relationship. 

This serves to further constrict or limit the 

kind of information that is shared. 

Student interviews of their own or a 

friend’s parent or grandparent, or of a 

Guest and teacher modeling interview for 

students in a Jonesport-Beals High School 

classroom, 2003. Photo: Jennifer Isé.
54

neighbor is another good way for students to practice interviewing. Have 

students write five open-ended questions during class and interview their 

test subject as homework. The next day they will report back to the whole 

class about the experience and what they learned from it. Ask students 

similar questions from the fish bowl exercise as an aid to critiquing their 

interview experiences. If they interview their own relatives, ask them 

to critique how they think the interview was affected by their existing 

relationship with the person. 

Watching videotaped interviews done by an earlier group of 

students or a different school as a class can also be a good way to train 

for interviewing. Videotapes of segments of interviews by professionals can 

also be used. Listening to an MP3 digital audio file of one of the interviews 

on the Voices from the Fisheries Database is another possible option. Some 

of the interviews are better than others; some were conducted by students 

and others were conducted by professional folklorists and social scientists. 

They offer good resource material for training exercises. 

The more practice all interviewers including students get, the more 

confident they will be to do their own interviews. This is so for anyone 

wanting to conduct oral history interviews. 

Approaches to Critiquing Practice Interviews

Some ideas for questions to ask students when they are critiquing 

others’ interviews, no matter what kind, include:

CRITIQUE QUESTIONS

Once you have led a classroom discussion using some of these 

questions, students may find it helpful to brainstorm a list of interview dos 

and don’ts. Compile the lists and give each student in the class a copy. This 

will help reinforce the lessons they have been learning about productive 

and unproductive questions in interviews, as well as other aspects of the 

interview situation.

What difficulties did you experience doing the interview? 

Was it easier to observe or to be a participant? Why? (for fish bowl interviews)

Did the student (interviewer) ask questions that you expected? 

Did you wish the student (interviewer) asked more? Why? 

If you could interview the student again (if the interviewer could redo the interview), 

what follow up questions would you ask? 

•

•

•

•

•
55

PRE-INTERVIEW CHECKLIST

Equipment Practice 

Before students (or anyone) goes to an interview, they must practice 

using the recording equipment—audio and/or video. If you are a teacher, be 

sure you feel comfortable yourself with all the equipment you have decided 

to use for your project before you introduce it to your students. If you have 

technology resource staff in your school, you will probably want to enlist 

their help with your equipment. Technology staff at Ellsworth High School 

provided helpful support to the Ellsworth teachers throughout the LFK Pilot 

Project. For an informed discussion on current recording equipment, read 

Andy Kolvos’ useful Digital Audio Field Recording Equipment Guide (Kolvos, 

2008). It can be downloaded from the Vermont Folklife Center’s website at 

http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/archive/res_audioequip.htm. 

Make sure students test all equipment before going to every 

interview they conduct. Make sure each interview kit always includes extra 

batteries, a pen and pencil, notebook, and a tripod if using a camera. Have 

a backup plan for how to handle equipment failure during an interview. 

Pre-interview Session

We recommend having your students conduct a pre-interview 

session with their interviewee. This can help put both parties at ease. If 

it is not possible to conduct a pre-interview face-to-face, a telephone 

conversation can suffice. The pre-interview can also spark the interviewee’s 

memory about experiences, names of people and places, and feelings about 

a specific event or period of time. 

During a pre-interview, students should do several things. Here is a 

list of what they are: 

Discuss the purpose of the project.

Share their list of interview questions with the interviewee and perhaps identify 

new ones based on the discussion.

Let the interviewee know that they will record the interview with audio and/or 

video recording equipment. 

Give the release form to the interviewee and have them sign it. Be prepared to 

•

•

•

•
56

 Conducting the Interview

Once students have set up the time and place for the interview, they 

should be on time, bringing all of their equipment. Teachers need to direct 

students to test out the equipment as the interview begins by stating the 

following:

Name of person(s) being interviewed

Names of each person doing the interview

Subject (s) of the interview

Location of the interview

Time and date of the interview

At this point, the interview should pause while the interviewer (or person 

assigned to monitor the recording equipment in team interviews), plays 

back a bit of the recording to make sure that the equipment is functioning 

properly. Little is more distressing than to discover at the end of an interview 

that one’s equipment wasn’t working! Once the equipment check has been 

performed, the interview can continue with the assurance that it is being 

recorded as planned.

During the interview, students should:

Greet the interviewee and make him or her feel as comfortable as 

possible. 

•

•

•

•

•

•

explain its content in everyday language. (See Legal and Ethical Issues, page 35 and 

sample release forms in Appendix F.)

Explain to the interviewee what you want to do with the interview recording. If a 

copy is to be donated to a public repository like the VFF Database that everyone 

can access, then its use cannot be controlled. Find out if they want any restrictions 

placed on access to the interview, because this will affect what you can do with it 

once it is collected. 

Schedule a specific time and place for the actual interview. Sometimes people feel 

more comfortable having the interview done in their home. If this is not possible, 

other potential locations include the local school, museum, library, marine center, 

or place of work of the person being interviewed.

•

•

See Appendix G for a sample Pre-Interview Worksheet to help students 

through their first meeting. These suggestions also apply to community 

groups and individuals.
57

Introduce each member of the 

interviewing team. 

Remind the interviewee that he or 

she is being recorded and explain 

the purpose of the project.

Never assume they know the 

answers to any question. Let 

the interviewee tell them their 

answers

Another highly useful practice 

is to take notes, or assign one or more 

students to take notes if it is a team 

interview. This will help interview 

participants formulate thoughtful follow up questions during the interview. 

Follow up questions are illustrated in the example. 

•

•

•

Always act interested. Ask one question at a time and do not 

interrupt to ask questions. Students should pay attention to an interviewee 

while he or she is talking. Students should refrain from unnecessary fiddling 

with the recording equipment. 

If the person uses words students do not understand, they should make 

a note to ask the meaning of the word. This is particularly important for words 

related to the topic of the interview like those used in the next example. 

Expect silent moments. If they occur, students should use the time 

to reflect and consider their core set of questions, but also be prepared 

for the unexpected. If the interviewee wanders off with an interesting 

FOLLOW-UP QUESTION EXAMPLE

Jonesport/Beals HS student interviewers 

talking with John Faulkingham, a local 

fishing supplies dealer and fisherman, after 

completing his oral history interview. 

Photo: Linda Church

Question: How did you first develop an interest in fishing?

Answer: When I was a little boy, I would go out fishing with my grandfather.

 

First Follow up Question: What are some of the things you did to help your grandfather 

while he fished? 

Second Follow up Question: Are there fishing activities that he wouldn’t let you help 

with? What were they? Why wouldn’t he let you do those jobs? 
58

story, they should allow it if it adds to their 

understanding of the topic. If it does not, 

they should politely return to their list of 

questions after the story is completed. For 

example, students may have focused the 

interview on lobster fishing only, but find out 

during the interview that the interviewee 

spent the first 15 years of their life tuna 

fishing in the Pacific Ocean, and though they 

do trap lobsters, they harvest other kinds of 

marine resources during other times of the 

year, like the excerpt from David Sargent’s 

interview (below) illustrates. This type of 

information adds breadth to an interview, and can expand understanding 

of interviewees’ lives and relationships to marine fisheries and the marine 

environment.

 

Thank the person at the end of the interview by letting them know you 

appreciated their sharing time and their story. Students should then take 

this opportunity to ask the interviewee if they know any other people that 

might like to be interviewed. If a signed release form has not already been 

obtained, it needs to be completed before leaving the interview setting. 

Send a thank you note as soon as possible to the interviewee. Tell them 

when they can expect to receive a copy of their interview recording, and 

any transcription that is planned. Be sure to follow through with providing 

them copies of their interview. 

DC: “Um, I’m using lobstermen 

terminology here just so you can 

pick up on that. I might fish a string 

here they call it this five to ten traps. 

Um, each lobster buoy is made of 

Styrofoam and each has a spindle on 

them and that’s the part that you hang 

on to so you got a Styrofoam usually 

with a handle.”

—Interview with Danner Curtis, May 

23, 2004. VFF Database: 

http://www.voices.nmfs.noaa.gov

DS: “ I lobster fish in the summer time 

and I dive for sea urchins and scallops 

in the winter and I also go worming 

and clamming.” 

—Interview with David Sargent, March 

23, 2005. LFK Database: 

http://www.voices.nmfs.noaa.gov

 Additional Resources

Many resources are available to help anyone who wants to 

learn more about 

i n t e r v i e w i n g 

strategies and techniques, and 

how to manage the interviews 

once they have been collected. 

We have listed a few here 

to help you get started. Also 

check the resources in the 

Bibliography at the end of the 
59

handbook. Searching the internet is a good way to locate additional materials. 

We also recommend that you contact your local reference librarian, your 

local heritage or folklife center, and local historical museum. Discuss your 

project with their staff; they are very likely to be able to help you locate 

more materials, and can help you select the places that may be interested 

in receiving copies your interview collection when it is completed.

Charlton, Thomas L., Lois E. Myers, and Rebecca Sharpless, eds. History of 

Oral History: Foundations and Methodology, Parts I and II. Lanham, MD: 

AltaMira Press, 2007.

Gatto, Michael. Part One: Planning Your Project. World War II, a Videotape 

Oral History Project. The History Channel Student Workbook. No date. 

Available online at http://www.history.com/classroom/worldwarII/media/

Part_One_Interview_Guide.pdf (accessed 1 January 2009).

Hunt, Marjorie. The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide. 

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian 

Institution, 2003. Access online at http://www.folklife.si.edu/resources/

pdf/interviewingguide.pdf (accessed 6 August 2008).

Lanman, Barry A. and Laura M. Wendling, eds. Preparing the Next Generation 

of Oral Historians: An Anthology of Oral History Education. Lanham, MD: 

AltaMira Press, 2006.
60
61

TRANSCRIBING

INTERVIEWS

 Why We Transcribe Interviews 

T

ranscribing interviews allows anyone collecting oral histories to do 

detailed analysis of the interview. There is no better way for you or 

your students to master the content of any recorded interview. It is 

an excellent way for interviewers to find out if they need to do a follow 

up interview to answer questions raised but not answered during the first 

interview. If your group is planning to publish any of the information you 

have gathered, transcription of the interview is a necessary step. 

Transcription does, however, require significant time investment 

and can be tedious. A rule of thumb for estimating the necessary time 

commitment to complete the transcription of an audio recording is 

approximately four hours of transcription time for each hour of interview 

time. The amount of time will vary depending on the complexity of the 

interview, the clarity of the recording, the transcriber’s familiarity with the 

speech patterns including the dialects of the speakers. Transcribers usually 

get faster as they become more experienced, and as they become more 

familiar with the subject matter of interviews. Transcription should start as 

soon as possible after the interview is done. 

The following discussion is focused on working with audio recordings, 

though it can also apply to the audio tracks of video recordings. Special 

techniques exist for the complex task of transcribing the interactional 

content of video recordings, and are not discussed in this handbook. 

Before you or your students begin the work of transcription, be sure 

to make a copy of the original interview, and put the original recording in a 

safe place (see section on Archiving Interviews, page 81). Do all transcription 

work with copies. Never use the original recording for transcribing. If the 

original recording is a digital audio recording in WAV format, make the copy 

into an MP3 format file before you begin the work of transcription. These 
62

files are much smaller and will be relatively easy to work with. Students will 

be familiar with this file format if they own MP3 players of any kind.

There are a number of transcription software choices including 

freeware that you can download from the internet. Find someone with up 

-to-date knowledge to help you select the appropriate software tool. The 

transcription software will allow you to listen through earphones or over 

computer speakers to the interview as it progresses. It will allow you to stop 

and start it, and it will also allow you to loop segments of the interview so 

you can continuously repeat sections until you get the exact phrasing as you 

type it out using a word processing program. 

Transcribers must pay attention to detail, writing down the narrative 

in the exact words used by both the interviewee and those conducting 

the interview. This means transcribers must include local speech patterns, 

colloquialisms, and local dialect. Everyone uses lots of “uhs” and “ahs,” 

repeats, false starts, pauses, and so forth when they speak. All these need 

to be kept and indicated in the written version. There are useful guides 

that discuss these aspects of transcription in more detail. An example is 

Powers’ recent book Transcription Techniques for the Spoken Word (2005). 

Her suggestions for professional transcriptions for research purposes can 

be adapted for use by student transcribers. 

I

nterview logs help everyone who wants to locate specific interview 

content or information within a particular interview. If you don’t have a 

log to refer to, you will have to spend a great deal of time listening to the 

entire recording searching for the kinds of content that particularly interest 

you. It is relatively easy to create an interview log as you move through an 

interview identifying the topics that the interviewee discusses. To create 

an interview log, record the location on the tape or digital recording using 

either the counter that is part of all recording devices, or the transcription 

software, and note the location on the log, followed by the content using 

the content codes you have developed for your project. If you are going to 

donate a copy of your recording to the VFF Database, you will use the VFF 

Database content codes discussed below. We have included sample Audio 

and Video Recording and Photography Logs in Appendix H.

 Interview Logs 
63

Content Coding Interviews 

I

f your class decides you would like to add your interviews to the Voices 

from the Fisheries Database, which we hope you will do, you will need 

to content code the major topics of your interview. Topics and subtopics 

are listed in Table 3, pages 66-67 and on the Voices web site at http://www.

voices.nmfs.noaa.gov/topics_list.html. These are used by the VFF Database 

search application to locate interviews that include those topics when 

someone selects them as part of a database search. This is the only way the 

search application can locate interviews that have content that matches 

what someone is looking for. We recommend that you or your group go 

through the interviews you have collected and write down the main topics 

discussed in the interview as soon as the interview is over. This will make 

it much easier if you decide later to place the interview on the database. 

During the LFK Pilot Project, one of the high schools took a copy of the 

list of topics to each interview that they conducted. One member of the 

interview team was assigned to check off topics as they emerged during the 

interview. This was an efficient way to do initial topic coding. 

Content codes can also be used to help prepare students or others 

before interviews. They will help students learn to recognize the breadth 

of appropriate topics for fisheries and marine-focused interviews. For 

example, if a school is using an interdisciplinary approach to their project 

like Ellsworth High School did, all the topics and subtopics could be discussed 

in science, social science, history, and English classes before the interviews 

actually take place. This will help students understand how topics that may 

appear unrelated like a particular kind of marine habitat, the life cycle of 

a specific marine species, growing up in a fishing family, and informal ingroup systems of justice among fishermen can all be interwoven in the 

same interview. 

Prepare an Interview Abstract

An interview abstract is a short description of the main topics 

covered in an interview. These are usually no more than a paragraph in 

length. The VFF Database limits abstracts to no more than 4,000 characters, 

including spaces and punctuation. Most however, are much shorter. Below 

is an example of an interview abstract for an interview included in the VFF 

Database. You can see many other examples by searching the VFF Database 

for interviews. 
64

Originally from Tennessee, Charles Pennycuff’s parents moved their family to Eastpoint 

in 1971. Since Charles first saw the bay at the age of seventeen, he has made his living 

from it. Over the years, Charles has done it all. He has shrimped, oystered, crabbed, 

and even grunted for worms. His son, Rex, worked the bay, too. Like a lot of folks, 

though, they wanted something more reliable. In 1993 Charles opened Fisherman’s 

Choice Bait & Tackle in Eastpoint. He has no employees, only his family. From this 

modest storefront, every fisherman, hunter, and seafood worker can get what he or 

she needs. From crickets to rubber boots, fishing poles to dog food, they’ve got it. And 

the nature of this kind of business is that it’s the center of all things bay-related. Locals 

stop in for bait, friends stop in to chat, and strangers get tips on good fishing holes. 

Even though the Pennycuffs don’t get on a boat to go to work anymore, they are still 

very much connected to the bay. 

— Interview by Amy C. Evans for the Southern Foodways Alliance 

www.southernfoodways.com Southern, part of the Southern Foodways Alliance 

Collection, accessed online at http://www.voices.nmfs.noaa.gov/.

Review and Approval of Interviews for School Projects 

When interviews have been transcribed, teachers should then work 

with their students to reflect on how well they achieved their project’s 

goals, and how well the interviews relate to their project’s focus question 

or theme. The oral history rubric in Appendix I will help you evaluate this 

process. Also read the Handbook section on Assessing Outcomes (page 

75). When establishing project rubrics, some teachers have found it useful 

to brainstorm with their class early in the project to identify what both 

they and their students think should be included in the rubric. This rubric 

can then be used to judge final student performance. This approach can 

increase student buy-in for the project and improve prospects that they will 

accept the evaluation process as fair and appropriate. 

Send Preliminary Copies of Interview Transcripts to Interviewees to Review

We recommend that you send preliminary copies of interview transcriptions 

to the person interviewed to review for accuracy. Sometimes trancribers 

do not hear something accurately, and as a result errors, both minor and 

major, can be created in the transcribed version of the recorded interview. 

 Ask the interviewee to read through the transcript to see if there are errors. 

Also ask them to tell you if they agree that the transcription is an accurate 

representation of their interview. You will have to explain that you want 
65

to keep the actual expressions and the way things were said in the written 

version; often interviewees want to edit transcripts so that they look more 

like “properly written” or grammatical speech. Try to persuade them not 

to do this. If the person cannot read the transcription, which sometimes 

happens, a relative or trusted friend may have to be persuaded to help 

them review the transcript. This is a good time to give them their own copy 

of the recording if you have not already done so; they may want to listen to 

it as they review the transcription.

Send Final Copies of Interview Recordings and Transcripts to Interviewees

Send copies of both the interview recording (if you have not 

already done so) and the final interview transcript (if you have prepared a 

transcript) to the person interviewed, or to their family if they have passed 

away. This should never be overlooked. After all, it is the interviewee’s 

intellectual property that they have chosen to donate for your use, and for 

the use of others to add to the record of human interaction with the marine 

environment. Both they and their family will appreciate that you have kept 

the commitment you made at the beginning of your project to provide each 

interviewee with a copy of their own interview.

 Additional Resources

T

hese books are current and they contain detailed, useful information 

on all aspects of transcribing and documenting your recordings. They 

include several appendices that provide sample forms of all kinds.

Powers, Willow Roberts. Transcription Techniques for the Spoken Word. 

Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2005.

Yow, Valerie Raleigh. Chap. 11 Conclusion of the Project, p. 311-324. 

Recording Oral History, 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2005. 
66

Table 3: Topics Used To Code Each Interview for Content When an

Role

Commercial fisherman (captain/crew)

Recreational fishermen (charter, 

 guide, party boat operator/crew)

Recreational fisherman -angler 

Subsistence fisherman/harvester

Dealer/wholesaler

Processor owner/operator/worker

Shoreside business owner/operator

Tourism operator

Manager/Policymaker

Fisheries biologist (all kinds)

Social scientist (all kinds)

Other scientist

Family member

Community leader

General public

Other role

Gear & Fishing Technology

Pots and traps

Gill net, trammel net

Seine

Weir

Trawl

Hook and line

Dredge

Tongs, rakes, scrapes

Spears, harpoons

Boats, ships, vessels

Other gear / technology 

Social & Cultural Characteristics of 

 Fishing

Socialization/training to be a fisherman

Life aboard a fishing vessel

Relationships with other fishermen

Fishing territories 

Informal rules and regulations

Informal allocation systems

Informal ingroup/intergroup justice

Safety practices and beliefs 

Other fishing social/cultural 

General Social & Cultural 

 Characteristics 

Gender roles

Family, family roles, family organization

Social networks (family, friends, 

 neighbors, co-workers)

Community structure and organization

Sources of prestige, rank, status

Social stratification

Ethnicity, ethnic identity

Education (schools, other resources)

Health care resources, practices 

Foodways and practices 

Values

Beliefs and belief systems (religion, 

 health, and other)

Festivals, ceremonies, tournaments

Leisure time activities (includes 

 recreation, entertainment, sports)

Music and dance

Arts and crafts

Language, terminology/vocabulary/folk 

 taxonomy 

Place names

Other general social/cultural 

Business and Economics of Fishing &

 Other Maritime

Making a living

Seasonal round of fishing

Family involvement

Business organization

Costs/operating expenses

Earnings/Revenue/Profitability

Business risks 

Financing and investment (short- and 

 long-term) 

Competition (domestic and foreign)

Shoreside support services (docks, 

 repair, etc.)

Obtaining supplies (fuel, bait, ice, gear, 

etc)

Selling/marketing the catch 

Fish processing/processor employment

Business and economic effects of 

 regulations 

Contributions to local economy

The bolded words are the major topic categories; sub-topics are listed following each major category. 
67

Importance to local community/region

Off-season occupations and activities

Retirement

Ports, harbors, marinas

Ship construction, shipbuilding 

Aquaculture

Seafood safety

Seafood Retail (e.g., restaurants, services)

Tourism, ecotourism

Other business/economics/maritime

Fisheries Management

Management legislation

Management institutions

Management approaches/practices

Co-management, community-based 

 management

Regulations 

Permits/Licenses

Bycatch

Conservation measures

Invasive species 

Endangered, protected or threatened 

 species

Marine Protected Areas

Technical assistance

Enforcement

Observers

International treaties and agreements

Other fisheries management

Habitat & Other Environmental 

 Characteristics

Environmental change

Unusual environmental phenomena or 

 events 

Weather 

Climate, climate change

Currents, tides

Water quality 

Habitat 

Ocean habitat

Fresh water habitat

Coastal zone habitat

Aquatic ecosystems

Fishing banks

Other habitat/environmental

Species Type

Fish - General

Salmon (all kinds)

Groundfish (e.g., rockfish, cod, 

 haddock, halibut, sole)

Highly migratory species (e.g., tuna, 

 Billfish/swordfish, dorado/mahi-

 mahi)

Coastal pelagic species (e.g., anchovy, 

 herring, mackerel) sharks, skates, rays

Lobster, crab, shrimp

Shellfish (e.g., scallops, mussels, clams, 

 oysters)

Sea urchins, sea cucumbers, sea stars

Squid, octopus

Jellyfish

Sea turtles

Marine mammals

Sea birds, shore birds

Seaweed and algae

Corals, sponges

Worms

Local and scientific species names

Other species type

Species Characteristics

Current population, stock size 

Historic population, stock size 

Current distribution, range 

Historic distribution, range

Migration routes and seasonal patterns 

Spawning areas, breeding grounds

Nursery areas

Life cycle stages (e.g., egg, larvae, 

 juvenile, adult)

Behavior 

Species interactions

Extinct species, extinction 

Unusual species characteristics, 

 abnormalities

Other

Other 

Interview is Uploaded to the Voices from the Fisheries Database

These topics can be used to search the database to find interviews that contain related content. 
68
69

After completing a marine oral history project (or any oral history 

project for that matter), preserving the material so others benefit 

from it becomes a central consideration. Giving a copy to the person 

who was interviewed is something every oral history interviewer is ethically 

bound to do; it is the first step. If all you do then is safely store the original in 

your file cabinet or on the top shelf of your closet, you will ensure that only 

a very limited circle will ever hear the recording or read the transcript. 

There are alternatives that better insure that the voices of your 

interviewees, their experiences and perspectives, will be preserved so that 

they benefit the wider society. The technical aspects related to the kind 

of equipment and media used to record the original interview that affect 

long-term preservation were already touched on in the previous section 

on recording and transcribing interviews. This section focuses on locating 

appropriate institutional homes for archiving oral history recordings and 

transcriptions that ensure that the oral histories will become accessible 

to a wider audience. By donating copies of your oral history recordings 

and transcriptions to one or more public institutions, you improve their 

chance for long-tem preservation, thus enabling future generations 

access. Professional archivists suggest that long-term preservation is best 

assured if oral history materials are replicated and copies are placed in 

three different repositories or archives. While this may not be realistic for 

everyone’s collection, it makes the point that redundant archiving improves 

the chances that an oral history collection will be available to the public for 

a long time.

We strongly urge careful consideration of several possibilities, and 

we urge you to contact more than one potential repository to find the ones 

that are best for your collection. This list is not intended to be exhaustive, nor 

is it intended as an endorsement of any institutional archive or repository. 

We have tried to point out different archival possibilities to stimulate you to 

search out those in your own local area, state, and region. Some may suit 

ARCHIVING 

INTERVIEWS & 

RELATED DOCUMENTS
70

your needs better than others. The internet is an excellent place to begin 

your search. 

Ask anyone you contact for suggestions about others whom you can 

contact who may be interested in receiving copies of your oral histories. 

Librarians and others who operate libraries and other institutional archives 

can often help you locate the information you seek. 

Finally, we recommend you put some thought into identifying the 

institutions to which you want to donate copies of the oral histories you 

intend to collect before you begin collecting them. It will be worth your 

time to contact them in advance to find out what kind of release forms they 

will require to accept oral histories, whether they want interview logs to be 

created, and what kind of media they prefer for oral histories. Knowing their 

requirements before you begin collecting interviews means you can begin 

collecting the oral histories knowing that you will avoid the disappointment 

of learning too late that you don’t have what the archive requires to be able 

to accept a collection. 

 Local and State Libraries and Archives 

Local libraries include school, city, and county libraries. Although these 

libraries may have limited resources available for archiving materials, they 

may welcome copies of oral histories that are focused on the local area on 

CDs or paper copies of interview transcriptions. 

If your project is part of a school or classroom project, the school 

librarian should be asked about placing copies in the school library. If the 

school has a website they may want to put MP3 files of the interviews on 

it to highlight the project. That is what Ellsworth High School in Maine did 

with some of the oral histories recorded by their 10th grade students as part 

of the LFK Pilot Project. 

State libraries and archives are devoted to both past and recent state 

history. They are another archiving resource to contact about oral histories 

related to your state. A U.S. State Historical Societies and State Archives 

Directory is accessible on the internet (see http://web.syr.edu/~jryan/

infopro/hs.html, accessed 31 October 2008). 
71

University and College Libraries

University and college libraries often house special collections departments 

or units that archive oral histories related to the state or region where the 

schools are located. Two examples that illustrate this are the University 

of Alaska-Fairbanks Elmer E. Rasmuson Library’s Polar and Arctic Regions 

Collections (see http://library.uaf.edu/apr, accessed 31 October 2008), and 

the University of Louisiana’s T. Harry William’s Center for Oral History (see 

http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/Williams/, accessed 31 October 2008), and 

there are many others. Search the internet to find more. They can be a 

valuable resource because they have professional staff who can advise you, 

and they often have useful documents that you can download at no charge, 

e.g., the University of Louisiana’s site provides links to classroom curriculum, 

release forms, and a sample budget for an oral history project. 

Local and State Historical Societies

Many local communities have historical societies, as do most states. 

These organizations can be excellent resources to contact about your oral 

history collection. State libraries and archives are devoted to both past and 

recent state history. The U.S. State Historical Societies and State Archives 

Directory cited previously lists internet sites for all U.S. state historical 

societies (see http://web.syr.edu/~jryan/infopro/hs.html, accessed 31 

October 2008). 

State, Regional, and National Folklife Centers

Many state and regional folklife centers are located on state university 

campuses, e.g., the Maine Folklife Center located on the campus of the 

University of Maine at Orono (see http://www.umaine.edu/folklife/default.

htm, accessed 31 October 2008). Folklife centers may maintain oral history 

collections in their own archives, or in cooperation with the university’s 

special collections department in the university’s library. An internet search 

will help you find out if one exists in your state or region.

At the national level, the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for 

Folklife and Culture provides useful resources including their well-known 

Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide (Hunt, 2003). Also 

see http://www.folklife.si.edu/index.html, (accessed 31 October 2008). The 

Center maintains the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections among 

its many other activities. 
72

Another excellent resource is the Library of Congress’s American 

Folklife Center website that can be accessed at http://www.loc.gov/folklife/

(accessed 31 October 2008). This site also provides many useful guides 

and other information, and also archives oral histories of interest to their 

collection priorities.
73

NOAA VOICES

FROM THE FISHERIES

DATABASE

ARCHIVE

T

he NOAA Voices from the Fisheries Database (VFF DB) is a powerful 

resource available to the public to inform, educate, and provide 

primary information for all who are interested in our local, human 

experience with the surrounding marine environment. The VFF DB is 

an electronic tool that is a public, searchable, central repository for 

consolidating, archiving, and retrieving oral history interviews related to 

commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishing in the United States and 

its territories. It is available to everyone through the internet at http://www.

voices.nmfs.noaa.gov. The Voices from the Fisheries Database is becoming 

a ‘one stop shop’ for those interested in the human connection with our 

marine and aquatic environments, and our living marine resources

Interviews with people both directly and indirectly involved in marine 

and Great Lakes fishing and fishing-related activities, as well as in other 

marine-related activities are being sought for inclusion on the VFF DB. The 

VFF DB supports diverse users including NOAA Fisheries (NMFS) staff, nonNOAA scientists and managers, educators, students, and the general public. 

The VFF DB Project has located dozens of existing marine fisheries oral 

history collections containing more than 

4000 individual oral histories collected 

over several decades. A portion of these 

existing documents will eventually 

become available to a global audience as 

they are added to the VFF DB. 

Original project partners include 

the Working Waterfronts Festival in 

New Bedford, Massachusetts; Bonnie 

McCay, Department of Human Ecology, 

Rutgers University; and Madeleine 

Hall-Arber, MIT Sea Grant. Long Island 

Traditions, Port Washington, New York 

Women working in a processing factory, 

mid-Twentieth Century. 

Photo: NOAA Photo Archive
74

(www.longislandtraditions.org) and The Southern Food Alliance, Oxford, 

Mississippi (http://www.southernfoodways.com/) have recently become 

participating partners by adding interviews from their collections to the VFF 

DB. Each institution that provides access to their collections through the 

VFF DB is critically important to the overall success of this initiative. 

The VFF DB replaces the original Local Fisheries Knowledge Database 

developed to support the LFK Pilot Project during the period 2003-2005; 

that database has been decommissioned and the LFK interviews are now 

available on the VFF DB. 

Oral history interviews included in the VFF DB’s growing collection 

are being conducted and donated by the public, by students and their 

teachers as part of classroom projects, and by professional researchers. To 

find out if the marine-related oral histories you have already collected, or 

are planning to collect, are appropriate for the VFF DB, go to the VFF DB 

web site at http://www.voices.nmfs.noaa.gov. Once you are on the Voices 

from the Fisheries home page, locate and click on the “How to Participate” 

button. This will take you to the web site page that describes how to contact 

the VFF DB administrator. You will be asked to fill out a short, downloadable 

form (see Appendix J), fill it out, and email it to the VFF DB administrator 

at Voices@noaa.gov. The VFF administrator will review your project. If it is 

appropriate, you will be receive a login and password by email so you can 

upload your oral histories to the VFF DB. 

The VFF DB accepts marine-related oral history 

interviews in two file formats--MP3 digital audio 

files and PDF files. Photographs can be embedded 

in text files and submitted as PDF files. When 

Phase 2 of the VFF DB is completed in mid-2009, 

digital video file capability will be added to the 

database. 

A Voices from the Fisheries Database Users Guide 

is available for download from the VFF web site. If 

you would like to get more information on what the 

upload process is for MP3 or PDF interview files, 

access the Users Guide at https://www.st.nmfs.

noaa.gov/vff/html/VFF2.0_User_Guide.pdf.
75

Complex work in schools and communities involving application of 

skills and knowledge to solve important community issues requires 

thoughtfully constructed assessment methods in order to make 

a powerful case for learning in the community. When you think about 

assessing your project, it may at first feel overwhelming. After all, you are 

developing a complex project that connects different audiences: schools, 

community, students. The information in this section is an attempt to help 

you think through the assessment process and highlight useful tools. We 

offer two different lenses to evaluate the outcomes of a LFK project: 1) 

evaluation tools to measure the effectiveness of the project or program 

and 2) strategies for assessing individual student learning outcomes. 

Before you begin designing your project, you must identify the “enduring 

understandings” you want your students to develop (Wiggins & McTighe, 

2001); begin with the end in mind. The steps of the model are: 1) Identify 

learning outcomes; 2) Determine acceptable evidence; and 3) plan learning 

experiences and instruction.

 Program Evaluation

E

valuation of a LFK project should be based on the goals and expected 

outcomes for the respective partners: schools, students, marinebased organizations, and community. In the case of Maine’s LFK Pilot 

Project, the goals included:

1) Student Learning and Engagement

• Increased student engagement in learning

• Acquisition of new skills: literacy, technology, project planning

• Higher aspirations for higher education

• Improvements in teacher practice

2) School – Community Relationship

• New connections between students, school, and community

ASSESSING

OUTCOMES
76

3) NOAA Fisheries 

• Improved relationships between local fishing communities and NOAA 

Fisheries

• Expanded awareness of careers in marine science, management, and 

policy

• Increased environment literacy (marine and coastal environments)

 Project Evaluation Tool Options

1) Rural School and Community Trust Assessment System (See Appendix 

K: PBAS Quick Reference Guide)

To assess and understand the critical features of place-based 

education efforts, the Rural Trust, in partnership with the Harvard Graduate 

School of Education, developed an assessment system that integrates a 

number of separate goals and processes not currently addressed in state 

and national standardized assessments, but critical for improving teaching 

and learning (Rural School and Community Trust, 2003). These include 

connecting schools and communities, pairing intellectual content knowledge 

with real world applications, measuring the full impact of learning inside 

and outside the school, and using the evidence these strategies yield for 

program improvement. The Assessment System is designed around three 

complementary themes and related aspects with corresponding rubrics to 

assess the work of students, teachers, and community members:

I. Student Learning and Contributions measures the impact of the project 

on student learning that is rigorous, relevant, connected to the community 

and reflective of student voice and leadership. Rubrics measure how the 

work results in acquisition of critical thinking skills and deeper learning 

about important content.

II. Community Learning and Empowerment focuses on what the community 

has gained and how the work builds access, communication, and trust 

between schools, students, and community groups

III. Deepening and Spreading Place-Based Learning examines whether 

place-based approaches have become sustainable in the school and the 

community.

Collecting Evidence

Project participants are expected to collect evidence that affirms 
77

the impact of the LFK Pilot Project and is directly connected to the three 

themes and various aspects listed above. Types of evidence include: 

• Work products by student or community members

• Student reflections and concept maps - to illustrate learning growth 

and the learning process, as well as student contributions to the 

project design and implementation

• Parent/Community reflections - to illustrate adults’ role in the 

project, as well as their perceptions of the project’s effectiveness in 

facilitating student learning

• Evidence of dialogue that occurred between teacher and student (or 

between student and student, or community member and student, 

etc.) about the project and/or the student work (documented via a 

short transcription, audiotape, or videotape)

• Survey forms or other instruments—and resulting data—used by 

students to make decisions about the course of the project 

• Short, tightly edited video or audio clips that document an 

important aspect of the project and/or the voices and reflections of 

participants 

• Summaries of interviews and/or focus groups with students, parents, 

and community members

• Public documents, such as news articles

• Tests and examples of mastery of standards

• PowerPoint presentations/websites/email, especially those created 

by students in the course of the project

Rubrics are used as guidelines for rating progress or measuring 

developmental growth. They describe 

performance on a range of pertinent 

attributes according to different levels 

of performance.

2) Pre-post questionaire that 

documents prior and subsequant 

knowledge and attitudes about fishing 

knowledge, marine careers, and 

student aspirations (see Appendix B).

3) Surveys, observations, interviews 

and/or focus groups to show the real 

LFK Pilot Project Resource Committee 

meeting with Jonesport/Beals HS staff, 

students, and community members during 

the early days of the project in April 2003. 

Photo: Susan Abbott-Jamieson 
78

value of students’ interviews and other work to the community. 

4) A Logic Model that shows the relationship between the resources (inputsoutputs) you have to operate your program, the activities you plan to do, 

and the changes or outcomes you hope to achieve (short-intermediate-long 

term). A logic model provides a picture of how your project will work.

5) Observations, participation in project activities, and interview anecdotes 

can be used to measure improved relationships between local fishing 

communities and NOAA Fisheries. Awareness that NOAA was interested 

and valued the community’s rich fishing knowledge changed many local 

community members’ attitudes. Susan Abbott-Jamieson’s willingness to 

support the project through attendance at public meetings, creation of a 

national database to store local information, and support in applying for a 

Preserve America grant were significant

NOTE: While Changes in Teacher Practice was not one of the outcomes 

formally measured in the LFK Pilot Project, it definitely is a variable to 

consider in designing other projects. Because teachers are a primary 

agent of change, it is important to understand the ways in which teachers 

change their teaching approaches as a result of LFK projects. Interviews and 

observation data can show such impacts as:

• Use of local places and resources as contexts for learning and student 

engagement

• Interdisciplinary teaching

• Increased collaboration with other teachers

• Partnerships with community members and organizations

• Stronger curriculum planning skills and use of technology

 Assessing Student Learning

When students are engaged in authentic place-based learning 

activities, it is important that we provide a variety of ways to 

show what they are learning. Because of the many ways students 

demonstrate their knowledge and skills—writing, speaking, researching, 

performing, presenting—it is difficult to specify a single assessment tool 

that works in every learning setting. Using a variety of standardized and 

performance-based assessment tools provides a more complete picture of 

students’ acquisition of knowledge and skills, and growth as contributing 

members of a community. 
79

Skills and knowledge to be assessed include:

• 21st Century Learning Skills (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 

2004); specifically critical thinking, collaborative problem solving, 

information and communication technology, and literacy skills

• Connections to Standards: Collecting rich evidence from a variety of 

sources that students are meeting state standards

• Comprehension of concepts and content knowledge

 21st Century Skills

Anumber of reports have been compiled over the past decade by 

business and education leaders focusing on the skills and knowledge 

today’s students need to flourish in an increasingly global, 

technology-rich society. These skills include higher-order thinking; social and 

personal skills; information, media and technology literacy; innovation and 

creativity. Integrating these skills into teaching, standards and assessment 

is “an economic imperative, driven by changes in the workforce and a vital 

aspect of improving student learning (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 

2004). 

Many of these 21st Century skills are reinforced in place-based 

initiatives like the LFK Pilot Project. Information, technology and 

communication skills were reinforced through activities such as digital 

recording and digital photography, use of scanners, editing of digital and 

audio tape recordings, use of software transcribe interviews and entering 

data onto the NOAA database, and the ability to combine these skills for 

presentations. 

 Connections to Standards

While many standards are addressed in the course of an LFK 

project, it is best if teachers in different disciplines chose a 

few key content standards they want students to focus on and 

assess. 

In addition, most states have adopted “guiding principles” that apply 

throughout the curriculum. These principles relate to students’ ability 

to communicate, reason, investigate and solve problems. They also can 

include standards of personal development, civic and social responsibility. 

(Appendix L: Guilford School Oral History Standards)
80

Multimedia presentations provide students an opportunity to share 

what they know with families, faculty, students, and community 

members as they combine text, graphics, video, sound, and even 

animation. At different end points in the project, culminating presentations, 

performances or exhibitions that include students’ reflections on what 

they have learned about academic content, their community’s marine 

environment, and themselves, can provide a formative or summative 

assessment opportunity. 

In the case of the LFK Pilot Project, oral presentations were scored by 

educators against an analytic rubric based on ideas and content, organization, 

language, and delivery. The assessment rubric was most closely aligned 

with the English Language Arts content standard related to the stylistic and 

rhetorical aspects of speaking, including the ability to “explore ideas, to 

present line of thought, to represent and reflect on human experience, and 

to communicate feelings, knowledge, and opinions.”

 Student Presentations & Performances 
81

OTHER COAST

MARINE PROJECTS

IN THE U.S. & BEYOND

 NOAA Projects

Some NOAA Preserve American Initiative Grant (PAIG) Projects include:

Documenting Traditional Knowledge of Marine Use and Resource 

Management in American Samoa

This project will document traditional knowledge of marine use and resource 

management in American Samoa through the assimilation of oral histories 

of traditional fishing and resource management methods with elders from 

American Samoan coastal villages. This knowledge and information will be 

used to improve outreach materials and policy and management programs 

with partner agencies. Project Lead: Arielle Levine, Pacific Islands Fisheries 

Science Center, NOAA Fisheries. Contact: Arielle.Levine@noaa.gov.

Gathering, Preserving, and Sharing Traditional Fisheries Knowledge from 

Down East Communities in North Carolina

This project will document, preserve, and interpret traditional work 

practices and knowledge in the Down East communities of Carteret 

County, North Carolina. Products will be heritage tours and interactional 

educational exhibits that preserve and showcase these heritage assets. 

Project Lead: Gretchen Bath Martin, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, 

Beaufort Laboratory, Beaufort, South Carolina. Contact: Gretchen.Bath.

Martin@noaa.gov.

Voices of the Bay: A Voyage of Science, Community, and Heritage

through Local Fisheries Knowledge 

This project develops a place-based curriculum, lesson plans, and activities 

that use local fisheries as the context for learning about the marine 

environment, the ecological and human dimensions of marine resource 

use, and its management. The overall project will expose students to 

the rich fishing history of the Monterey Bay area. Partners include NOAA 

Southwest Fisheries Science Center (NOAA-SWFSC), Monterey County 
82

Office of Education (MCOE), Monterey Maritime and History Museum 

(MMHM), and the Friends of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (FoMLML). 

Project Lead: Seaberry Nachbar, NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program, 

NOAA National Ocean Service, Monterey Bay, California. Contact: Seaberry.

Nachbar@noaa.gov 

Catching the Fishing History of Lake Michigan, 1871-2006

This project supports new research on the 1870-1940 period documenting 

the living history of the fishery in the Leelanau Peninsula/Manitou Islands 

through interviews with surviving tribal and non-tribal fishermen, fishery 

biologists, and other local residents. Partners include Michigan Sea Grant 

and the Fishtown Preservation Society Project. Lead: Peter Fricke, Office 

of Sustainable Fisheries, NOAA Fisheries, Silver Spring, Maryland. Contact: 

Peter.Fricke@noaa.gov.

Inupiat Cultural Preservation, Kotzebue Sound, Alaska

This project partners with Ilinniagvik Attautchikun, a local Inupiat cultural 

preservation organization, to document and preserve knowledge of historic 

marine resource usage and traditional harvest methods and equipment 

in Alaska’s Northwest Arctic. Elders in four coastal villages of Kotzebue 

Sound--Kotzebue, Buckland, Kivalina, and Deering--are documenting on 

video the ecological history of marine resources in the area and traditional 

Inupiaq hunting and fishing methods. Oogruk (the bearded seal) is the 

most important local resource, along with ringed seals, beluga, walrus, fish, 

and shellfish. Elder’s observations of ecological changes in the region are 

being recorded as unique source of environmental history. Project results 

will eventually be included in the NOAA Arctic Theme Page website (http://

www.arctic.noaa.gov) and the NOAA Voices from the Fisheries Database 

(http://www.voices.nmfs.noaa.gov). Contact: Jennifer.Sepez@noaa.gov.

 Some NOAA Fisheries Service (NMFS) funded projects include: 

Oral Histories of Fishermen’s Wives in New England

Oral histories focused on fishermen’s wives are being collected in the coastal 

areas of New England. Many fishermen’s wives participate in their family’s 

commercial fishing business by handling shoreside aspects of the business, 

and by participating in voluntary associations supporting commercial 

fishermen and their families. Others have worked in the fish processing 

plants in these areas. These oral histories help document gender roles 

in fisheries work and lifeways, the role of women in fishing communities, 
83

and the potential impact of fisheries regulations on fishing families and 

communities. Interviews are being conducted in fishing communities in 

Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Contact: Lisa.L.Colburn@noaa.gov. 

Oral Histories of Portuguese Descent Fishermen and Their Families in 

Massachusetts

Some fishing communities are home to significant populations with 

distinctive ethnicity who are non-native English speakers. New Bedford, 

Massachusetts has a rich ethnic mix that includes Portuguese, Norwegians, 

and newcomers like the Guatemalans who work in fish processing. Oral 

history interviews are being conducted among these populations in New 

Bedford to ensure that their voices are heard. This work also relates to 

Executive Order 12898 Environmental Justice requirements that regulatory 

impacts on potentially vulnerable populations be identified. Contact: 

Patricia.Pinto.Da.Silva@noaa.gov. 

 

 Other Projects

CREST (Community for Rural Education Stewardship and Technology)

CREST is a five year project at the Island Institute funded by the National 

Science Foundation (NSF), that uses placed-based education to provide 

students and teachers from 16 island and coastal schools opportunities 

for hands-on technology education and career awareness in information 

technology fields. 

Partners include the Island Institute, University of Maine at Machias, 

Bowdoin College and remote island and coastal schools, forming a 

community of students, teachers and professionals with heightened 

database development, GIS mapping, and ethnographic research skills. 

By applying these skills within the resource stewardship context CREST 

builds capacity for participation in stewardship and information economies 

among students while providing teachers and professionals with skills that 

could immediately diversify the local economy. Oral history interviewing 

of island residents, many of whom are fishermen, is part of the students’ 

mix of activities. Online at http://www.crest.islandinstitute.org (accessed 

26 January 2009)

Virgin Islands (VI) Aquatic Heritage Project

 Customs and Traditions Harvested from Our Seas. VI Aquatic Heritage 
84

Project, launched in 2007. It is funded through the U.S. Department of 

Interior/Fish and Wildlife Service. The project’s goals include preserving 

and disseminating the Virgin Islands’ rich history of involvement with its 

surrounding aquatic environment, while highlighting the part the fishing 

industry has played in the culture of the Virgin Islands. Modeled on 

NOAA Fisheries’ Local Fisheries Knowledge Pilot Project in Maine, the 

Aquatic Heritage Project trains students to interview veteran fishermen 

to learn about their islands’ fishing history. Partners in the grant include 

the VI Cultural Heritage Institute, the Office of Cultural Education at the 

Department of Education, VI Council on the Arts, schools on St. Thomas, St. 

Croix, and St. John, and the Fish and Wildlife Division at the Department of 

Planning. 

Great Lakes Fisheries Trust (GLFT) Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative 

The goal of the GLFT’s Great Lakes Stewardship grant category is to increase 

awareness and understanding of the ecology of the Great Lakes so that 

Michigan’s residents become (1) active and effective stewards of the 

Great Lakes, and (2) advocates for strategies that support the long-term 

sustainability of the Great Lakes fisheries. This goal is being achieved primarily 

through the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI), which the GLFT has 

launched with the support of the Wege Foundation and with the advice and 

counsel of an Advisory Group and Funders’ Collaborative. The GLSI supports 

a proven method of community-based learning in K–12 classrooms across 

Michigan. In project schools, the local environment provides the context 

for education: students learn academic content while studying issues or 

problems of local importance. This approach builds students’ enthusiasm 

for learning and results in higher academic achievement. Online at http://

www.glstewardship.org/about.html (accessed 26 January 2009). 
85

APPENDICES
86

Appendix A

Local Fisheries Knowledge Pilot Project Committee 2003-2005

Susan Abbott-Jamieson, Ph.D.

Susan Abbott-Jamieson, an anthropologist, is the Senior Social Scientist in the Office of Science 

and Technology, NOAA Fisheries Service Headquarters. She is leading the development of 

NOAA Fisheries Service’s expanding social science program. The program will improve the 

agency’s ability to meet its mission-related social science research requirements. Prior to 

joining NOAA in early 2002, she was a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology 

at the University of Kentucky. Previous research focused on rural horticulturalists in Kenya, 

and children and families in eastern Kentucky coal mining communities. Susan is the Project 

Manager for the Local Fisheries Knowledge Project.

James Acheson, Ph.D.

James Acheson is Professor of Anthropology and Marine Sciences at the University of Maine. 

He has done extensive fieldwork in fishing communities in Maine on the social science aspects 

of fisheries management. He has written several books including The Lobster Gangs of Maine 

and Capturing the Commons, and is a noted scholar of regional and national marine fisheries 

issues.

Ordman “Skipper” Alley, Jr.

Ordman Alley, Jr. (nickname Skip) is a local lobsterman and lifelong resident of Beals, Maine. 

He graduated in the top ten of his class from Jonesport-Beals High School in 1986. During 

school he was a member of the National Honor Society as well as an athlete who played 

varsity soccer, baseball, golf, and basketball. Skip went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in 

Marketing/Management and continued to play basketball at the college level. Currently, he 

is married with three children and is an active community member. He has been a T-ball 

coach for three years, a Little League coach for one year, a Boy Scout leader for six years, and 

a member of the School Board for seven years. Skip owns his own 35-foot lobster boat, the 

‘Britt and Matt’, and a full gang of wire traps. He also owns a lobster pound with his father.

Julie Bartsch

Julie Bartsch is an education consultant, providing training and technical assistance to a number 

of educational organizations. She currently works with the Rural School and Community 

Trust as a Regional Steward in the Northeast. Julie has served in a number of roles in public 

education: teacher, K-12 administrator, college faculty/administrator, school board member, 

and consultant. Her career in education has focused on her commitment to forging partnerships 

between K-12 schools, higher education institutions and community, including creating the 

National Institute for School/Community Collaboration while a Fellow at Tufts University. Julie 

holds advanced graduate degrees in management and education form Lesley University and 

the Harvard School of Education. While at the Harvard School of Education, she worked on 

the development of a School Leadership Academy and an annual institute on “Innovations in 

Literacy, Learning and Assessment.” She recently published Community Lessons - a collection 
87

of promising curricular practices in community and place-based learning.

Lisa L. Colburn, Ph.D.

Lisa Colburn received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Connecticut. Lisa 

is now a Social Scientist for NOAA Fisheries, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, located in 

Woods Hole, Massachusetts. She has conducted applied research in coastal communities in 

New England and Madagascar. Her earlier research included nutritional practices in Nepal. 

Lisa is currently writing and reviewing social impact assessments for fisheries management 

plans and conducts basic research on fishing communities in New England. Other research 

interests include the importance of social networks in household and community adaptation 

to social change (e.g., implementation of fisheries management regulations).

Jennifer Isé

Jennifer Isé is the Assistant Project Manager for the Local Fisheries Knowledge Pilot Project. 

Jennifer graduated from the University of Washington in 2001 with a Master’s Degree in 

Marine Affairs. Her thesis work explored motivations of rural landowners to voluntarily adopt 

conservation-oriented land management practices and their attitudes and perceptions about 

working with government to receive technical and financial assistance for such practices. 

Upon graduation she moved to Washington D.C. to work for the National Estuarine Research 

Reserve System within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She is currently 

on rotation at NOAA Fisheries, Office of Science and Technology, to work on the Local Fisheries 

Knowledge Project.

Michael Kimball, Ph.D.

Michael Kimball is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Maine-Machias 

(Ph.D. 1998, Anthropology, UW-Madison). His research focuses on prehistoric maritime 

fishing societies and cultural change. In addition to his archaeological investigations, he is also 

working on contemporary cultural issues linked to the coastal communities of Washington 

County, Maine. 

Virginia Nazarea, Ph.D.

Virginia D. Nazarea is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Georgia and Director 

of the Ethnoecology/Biodiversity Laboratory. Her research interests are in the areas of local 

knowledge, agricultural and natural resources decision-making, and cultural and biological 

diversity. She has done fieldwork in the Philippines, Ecuador, and Southern USA. Her publications 

include Local Knowledge and Agricultural Decision Making in the Philippines: Class, Gender, 

and Resistance (1995), Cultural Memory and Biodiversity (1998), and Ethnoecology: Situated 

Knowledge/Located Lives (ed., 1999). With her students, she has also published a protocol, 

Yesterday’s Ways, Tomorrow’s Treasures: Heirloom Plants and Memory Banking (1997 in 

English, forthcoming in Spanish). 
88

Paul Rago, Ph.D.

Paul Rago is a fisheries research biologist with NOAA Fisheries in Woods Hole, Massachusetts 

where he leads a group on fishery stock assessment methods. He received his Ph.D. from the 

University of Michigan in 1986. Before coming to NOAA Fisheries, he was Research Coordinator 

for the Emergency Striped Bass Study for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Dr. Rago has been 

actively involved in the design, implementation, and analysis of a number of projects involving 

the use of fishermen’s data in stock assessment. These projects have included studies with 

the surfclam-ocean quahog, sea scallop, and monkfish fisheries. In 2000, Dr. Rago helped 

organize and chaired an international symposium on the use of fishermen’s information in 

stock assessment in Brugge, Belgium for the International Council for the Exploration of the 

Sea. Over the past several years, Rago has been actively involved in a number of training 

activities for at-sea observers, graduate students, and fishermen.

Jennifer Sepez, Ph.D.

Jennifer Sepez is an anthropologist at NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Fisheries Science Center and 

an affiliate Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington. Previously, 

she was an editorial assistant at the Journal of Ethnobiology and has worked on traditional 

ecological knowledge projects with the Makah Tribe in Washington, with Zapotec communities 

in Mexico, with Aleut and Alutiiq peoples in Alaska. She also spent three seasons cutting fish 

at an Alaskan fish processor and three years conducting commercial fisheries research for the 

Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Ted Ames

Ted Ames is a Maine lobsterman, a former groundfish fisherman, and a scientist. He lives in 

Stonington, Maine. Ted Ames is author of a study on historic cod stocks in the Gulf of Maine. 

He interviewed many retired former cod fisherman about historic cod habitat that he then 

compared to data collected by fisheries biologists in the Gulf of Maine. He is the recipient of a 

2005 MacArthur “Genius” grant. He serves as a resource person for Ellsworth High School. 

Jim Roberts

Jim Roberts is the Local Project Coordinator, located in Beals, Maine, for the Local Fisheries 

Knowledge Pilot Project. He works with the Rural School and Community Trust and is the 

Curriculum Developer for the Washington County Consortium, in Machias, Maine. Jim is a 

graduate of the University of Maine at Orono, School of Forest Resources. He was born and raised 

in Eastport, Maine; the easterly most located city in the U.S. Jim was a classroom teacher for 

the past 11 years and then went to work for Maine Medical Center’s Department of Vocational 

Services. In that capacity he was involved in collaborative efforts to establish community / 

education partnerships and transition activities for youth in Hancock and Washington County 

schools. Prior to his work in education, Jim was employed as an Atlantic salmon research biologist 

and later as an aquaculture site manager in down-east and mid-coast Maine.
89

STUDENT NAME: _____________________________________________

SCHOOL: Jonesport-Beals High School GRADE: 9th 10th 

Ellsworth High School 11th 12th

Your school participated in the Local Fisheries Knowledge (LFK) Pilot Project last year, and will 

continue to participate during the 2004/2005 school year. We are collecting this information so 

we can learn about your experiences with the LFK Project during the 2004/2005 school year. 

PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS. 

Thinking about what you know right now, write an X at the place on the line that best 

describes what you know about each item (0 means you know nothing about it, while 7 

means you know a lot about it).

ITEM

1.1 The life of a fisherman 0___1 ___2___ 3 ___ 4 ___ 5 ___ 6 ___ 7 ___ 

 Know Nothing Know A Lot

1.2 The fishing industry in the area where you live 

 0___1 ___2___ 3 ___ 4 ___ 5 ___ 6 ___ 7 ___ 

 Know Nothing Know A Lot 

1.3 The fishing industry in the U.S.A. 0___1 ___2___ 3 ___ 4 ___ 5 ___ 6 ___ 7 ___ 

 Know Nothing Know A Lot

1.4 The connections between your community’s economy and the fishing industry in 

earlier times

 0___1 ___2___ 3 ___ 4 ___ 5 ___ 6 ___ 7 ___ 

 Know Nothing Know A Lot

1.5 The connections between your community’s economy and the fishing industry 

today 0___1 ___2___ 3 ___ 4 ___ 5 ___ 6 ___ 7 ___ 

 Know Nothing Know A Lot

1.6 How the fishing industry has influenced your community’s culture and way of life

 0___1 ___2___ 3 ___ 4 ___ 5 ___ 6 ___ 7 ___ 

 Know Nothing Know A Lot

1.7 How the health and quality of the marine environment (e.g., water, sediments, 

marine animals, marine plants etc.) affects the fishing industry

 0___1 ___2___ 3 ___ 4 ___ 5 ___ 6 ___ 7 ___ 

 Know Nothing Know A Lot

1.8 How the fishing industry affects the health and quality of the marine environment 

(e.g., water, sediments, marine animals, marine plants, etc.)

 0___1 ___2___ 3 ___ 4 ___ 5 ___ 6 ___ 7 ___ 

 Know Nothing Know A Lot

1.

Appendix B

LFK Project Student Questionnaire
90

Thinking about your experience so far with the Local Fisheries Knowledge Project, is there 

anything else that you have learned more about? Write down what that is and explain 

how the project helps you learn about it. You can write as many things as you want to. You 

can write on the other side of the page if you want to.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Do you think you could be interested in any of these careers in the future? (Put a check 

mark in the boxes that best show your career interests)

ANSWER

CAREER NO MAYBE YES

I was interested 

before the 

project started

3.1 Commercial fishing

3.2 Commercial fishing support industry 

(e.g., fishing supply store, live bait, 

producer/harvester, ship building, 

trap or gear construction, insurance, 

finance, etc)

3.3 Charter fishing boat operator

3.4 Marine wildlife viewing guide

3.5 Marine education

3.6 Marine safety and enforcement (e.g., 

Coast Guard, etc)

3.7 Shipping and marine transportation

3.8 Marine science/marine biology

3.9 Fisheries management

3.10 Marine social scientist

3.11 Other marine related (write in)

List two careers that interest you now that aren’t listed above. Then answer the question 

about each of these careers that best describes you by circling the “YES” or “NO” 

response.

CAREER

Did the Local Fisheries 

Knowledge Project have 

anything to do with why you 

are interested?

1. YES NO

2, YES NO

2.

3.

4.
91

IF YOU HAVE ALREADY PARTICIPATED IN AT LEAST ONE INTERVIEW, ANSWER QUESTION 5.

Thinking about the inteview(s) that you helped collect or transcribe, write down two things 

you learned from the person (or persons if more than one) who was interviewed.

5.1.________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

5.2________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

EVERYONE ANSWERS QUESTIONS 6,7, AND 8.

What is the best thing about the LFK Project? ___________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

What is the worst thing about the LFK Project?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

What would make the LFK Project better?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

5.

6.

7.

8.
92

Appendix C

Possible Topics for Evaluation of LFK Projects

Use these questions to help guide creation of evaluation questionnaires to use with your own 

VFF/LFK project. The way a question is phrased is determined by what classes are involved in 

the project and their specific lessons/activities. The answers will also be similarly affected. 

TOPICS BASED ON PROJECT GOALS

Knowledge of the fishing industry and marine environment 

Through the LFK Project, what did the students learn about:

The local fishing industry

The fishing industry in general

The connections between their community’s economy and the fishing industry 

How the fishing industry influenced their community’s culture 

How the health and quality of the marine environment affects the fishing 

industry

How the fishing industry affects the healthy and quality of the marine 

environment

Other? TBD

Career aspirations/interest 

 Marine related career interests 

Do any of the students have career interests in the following marine fields prompted 

by experience in LFK Project:

Commercial fishing

Commercial fishing support industry (e.g., fishing supply store, live bait producer/

harvester, ship building, trap or gear construction ... others?)

Charter fishing boat operator

Marine wildlife viewing guide

Marine education

Marine safety and enforcement (e.g., coast guard)

Shipping and marine transportation

Marine science / marine biology

Marine social scientist

Other TBD

*using same list, ask if they WERE interested in one of these careers BEFORE LFK 

Project experience...to see if it changed 

Other career interests prompted by experience in LFK Project

What careers are they interested in pursuing now ... was it based on the LFK Project 

experience?

Higher education interest/pursuits 

Are they interested in pursuing education beyond high school based on experiences 

1.

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93

from the LFK Project? For what field / degree / career? 

What specific actions have they taken as a result (e.g., applied for college, tech school, 

etc)?

Preservation of local knowledge

Did they have any changes related to perceptions or values of local knowledge? For 

example:

Did they learn something from their interviewees?

Did they find it a valuable or enjoyable experience?

Did they have any change in perception of the interviewee(s) before and after the 

interview(s)? 

OTHER

Community connections

Describe community participation. 

What were the benefits to the community or working w/students and schools? 

Student-centered outcomes

Community connections

What were the benefits to students of working w/the community?

Literacy results

Interest in: school / staying in school?/reading/technology ....?

Increase/Decrease in self-confidence, public speaking?

Self-awareness, global/regional perspectives broadened/unchanged? 

Teacher-centered outcomes

How easy/difficult was it to incorporate project into their curricula?

What skills did they need to acquire solely to lead the project?

How much time did it take to plan/prepare/etc.?

What was the impetus to participate in the project?

Describe how your class incorporated the project. Comment on subject matter, 

themes, activities, etc.

Was it the appropriate grade level in which to incorporate the project?

What was the biggest challenge to participating and implementing the project?

What professional outcomes did you gain as a project participant? Personal 

outcomes?

Overall, was it worth it...? 

Will you continue w/the project next year? Why or why not? 

Would you recommend other teachers do it? Why or why not?

What advice do you have for others teachers/schools starting an LFK Project?

What were the benefits to teachers of working w/the community?

What was your level of participation this past year?

What do you see as the academic benefits of this project

•

4.

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94

What was surprising to you about this project

How might you participate in the project in the 2004-2005 school year?

Interviewee questions

Tell us about your experience being interviewed by the students.

Did the students ask “good” questions.../what do you think about the quality of the 

questions asked by students?

What do you wish they asked that they didn’t?

What do you think about the relevance of this project to you, your community, the 

students...?

Would you be willing to be interviewed again?

Do you have any concerns about the fishing industry and/or marine environment that 

you think students should know?

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Has this experience changed you perception of education, young people, forms of 

learning, schools, of your local school, of your community?

Is there anyone else you recommend be interviewed next year? (name and contact 

info)

•

•

4.

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•
95

Appendix D

Sample Curriculim - Science

To: NOAA Teachers 

Project Name: Gulf of Maine Species Research 

Project Overview: Students will be assigned the role of Research Scientist for the C)epartment 

of Marine Resources. They will choose a species that is currently or was historically of economic 

import to the Gulf of Maine. A list will be provided to the students (i.e. Iobster, mussels, 

shrimp etc).

Phase I: Students will research their chosen species and include the following:

Common Name/Scientific Name 

Description (including photos) 

Habitat description 

Range Description 

Life Cycle 

Predator/Prey Relationships 

Potential and known threats to species stability

Phase II: Students will research the economic importance of the species (both historically 

and currently) and include the following: 

Uses by humans 

Method fished 

Current and historic population size 

Current and historic management efforts

Phase III: Students will propose a management or restoration plan including the following:

Detailed habitat map with management area highlighted 

Possible impacts to fish species 

Possible impacts to fish industry

Students will receive feedback on their plans from community officials involved in resource 

management fields, like Robin Alden, former DMR Executive Director.

Phase IV: Students will present their research and plans to the school and community in a 

showcase exhibition.

•

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•

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96

Appendix E

Planning for the Use of Literacy Support Strategies

Teach, model and use Literacy Support Strategies to strengthen...

Vocabulary development:

Knowledge Rating Guides (KRG)

Interactive Word Walls

Triple Entry Journals

Frayer Models

Word Sorts 

Writing:

Graphic organizers

Revision strategies

Peer editing strategies

Checklist: grammar; punctuation

Writing prompts

Interviewing:

Concept Mapping * Outlining * Coding * 

Semantic Feature Analysis

Presenting:

Storyboarding/sequencing graphic organizers 

* Rubrics * Rehearsal protocols * Feedback 

protocols

USING LITERACY SUPPORT STRATEGIES AS ASSESSMENTS

Using Literacy Support Strategies to Assess Literacy Development

One of the outcomes you will want to assess is how well students developed the intended 

academic literacy habits and skills you hoped to develop during the project (summative assessment). During the project you will also want to assess this in order to plan for additional 

needed support (formative assessment). 

One valuable way to check in on student progress is to ask students to use a strategy independently (after it has been taught, modeled and used in a small group/with a partner). 

The inquiry process:

KWHL Plus Q * Concept Maps * Graphic 

organizers

Planning and analysis:

Specific analytical graphic organizers such as

Venn Diagrams

Semantic Feature Analysis

Cause and affect maps

Thinking Maps: Brainstorming ideas//timelines

Inference Wheels

Reading comprehension:

Coding/Comprehension Monitoring

Cornell Notes/ Two Column Notetaking

Think Aloud

Paired Reading

Save the Last Word 

Group Summarizing

Sum It Up
97

Assessing Literacy Development

If you want to measure... You might want to use...

Strategic Reading Skills Coding/Comprehension Monitoring

Think Aloud Written Protocol 

QAR

Reading Comprehension Cornell Notetaking/Two-Column

Notes

Fishbone Organizer

Picture This!

RAFT

Analytical skills Semantic Feature Analysis 

Proposition Support Outline 

List-Group-Label

Historical analysis History Frame

Research/Inquiry Skills I-Search paper

Writing Use of the Writing Process Use of Rubrics 

Use of Graphic Organizers Focus Correction 

Areas

Speaking/Presenting Use of Rubric Debate Narrated Powerpoint

Vocabulary Development KRGFrayer ModelWord SortWord Cycle

Other ideas...

Using Literacy Support Strategies to Assess Project Learning

Literacy support strategies also provide vehicles for assessing project learning. By asking 

students to complete before and after forms of the same assessment, you can see students’ 

growth in understanding of key concepts. By asking students to use literacy support strategies to show you their learning, you can assess the ways that students ultimately ended up 

understanding the project.

Assessing Project Learning

If you want to measure... You might want to use...

Concept attainment Concept Definition Map 

Semantic Feature Analysis 

Discussion Web

Understanding of Critical Issues Problematic Situation 

Debate 

Proposition Support Outline 

RAFT

Understanding of Processes or Procedures Analytical Graphic Organizers 

KWHL Plus Q

Point of View RAFT

Discussion Web 

Point of View Guides

Other ideas...
98

Using Literacy Support Strategies to Assess Project Impact

By building in use of the literacy support strategies as a pre and post assessment from the 

beginning, you can use the strategies to measure aggregate pre and post project impact. 

Assessing Project Impact

If you want to measure... You might want to use...

Change in general knowledge/awareness KRG

Connections Concept definition maps

Presentation effectiveness Exit slips

Change in perspective Anticipation/reaction guide

Other ideas...

Purposeful Integration of Literacy Support and Development

into Service-Learning Projects

Planning Guide

Premise: Place-based education projects provide a motivating authentic context for learning. Good literacy habits and skills are critical to success in the 21st century workplace, 

higher education, and most multi-faceted community projects. Infusing place-based project 

design and implementation with relevant literacy instruction and guided practice to support 

students to do skillful reading, writing and analysis, develop literacy rich projects and produce high quality communication based products is, therefore, a priority.

Goal: To infuse literacy support and development into Place-Based Education Projects in 

ways that provide instruction and opportunity for all participating students to strengthen 

their literacy habits and skills.

Questions to Aid Project Planning

READING (may include online sources)

What types of READING will the project include/require? 

What types of READING could also be included in the project?

How will best practices in reading instruction be included as part of the project design 

(including collaborative protocols for looking at texts, strategic reading, note-taking and 

vocabulary development strategies)?

What specific reading skills will be taught/modeled? (skimming, main idea, question 

generating, etc.)

How will differentiation be taken into account?

RESEARCH/INQUIRY (includes technology)

What type of RESEARCH/INQUIRY will the project require?

How will project expectations for research/inquiry be included/modeled in the project 

design?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

1.

2.
99

How will the research/inquiry process be scaffolded to support student success? 

What specific research skills will be taught/modeled? (hypothesis generating, summarizing, organizing, note-taking, semantic feature analysis, etc.)

WRITING (includes technology)

What types of draft and public WRITING will the project require?

How will writing instruction and the writing process be incorporated into the project 

design?

How will project expectations for writing be included/modeled in the project design?

What specific writing skills will be modeled/taught? (use of rubrics to analyze drafts, 

summarizing, development or retention of voice, editing, formal vs informal uses of 

language, etc.)

SPEAKING/PRESENTING

What types of SPEAKING/PRESENTING will the project require?

What types of speaking/presenting skills will be taught/modeled? (interview techniques, 

development and use of visuals, audience awareness)

How will project expectations for speaking/presenting be included/modeled in the project design?

CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING

Note: Obviously thinking skills are essential to all aspects of literacy but should be thought 

of separately to ensure that all participating students are being assisted to develop their 

critical and creative thinking skills/problem solving skills as an integral part of project design 

and implementation.

Specifically, how will students be taught how to brainstorm, focus and organize ideas and 

turn this into a work plan?

How will students be supported to gain analytical and evaluative skills during the project 

and how will these be evaluated?

How will project products specifically require synthesis of information across sources 

and/or adaptation of information to audience?

INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT

Note: Instruction and assessment need to be planned as an integral part of the project design and implementation. Assessment should be formative as well as diagnostic and summative with regard to literacy habits and skills (see handout).

3.

4.

1.

2.

3.

4.

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2.

3.

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2.

3.
100

Appendix F

Interview Release Forms

1) Interviewee Release Form

TO BE COMPLETED BY THE PERSON BEING INTERVIEWED

(In cases of oral history interviews of deceased persons, to be completed by donor of the material)

I, ________________________________________________ , am a participant in the Voices from 

the Fisheries Project (herinafter “VFFP”) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 

National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA/NMFS). I understand that the purpose of the VFFP is to 

collect audio- and video-recorded oral histories of the United States of America and its territories’ 

commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishermen and women, and those who support them, as 

well as selected related documentary materials such as photographs for inclusion in the Voices from 

the Fisheries Database (herinafter “VFF DB”). The VFF DB is housed on NOAA/NMFS servers and will 

be accessible to the public through a website. These oral histories and related materials serve as 

a record of the Nation’s commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries and as a scholarly and 

educational resource for NOAA and the general public.

I understand that NOAA/NMFS plans to retain the product of my participation in the VFFP in digital 

form, including but not limited to my interview, presentation, video, photographs, statements, name, 

images or likeness, voice, and written materials (“My Collection”) as part of its permanent collections 

in the VFF Database.

I hereby grant to NOAA/NMFS ownership of the physical property comprising My Collection. 

Additionally, I hereby grant to NOAA/NMFS, at no cost, the perpetual, nonexclusive, transferable, 

worldwide right to use, reproduce, transmit, display, perform, prepare derivative works from, 

distribute, and authorize the redistribution of the materials in MY Collection in any medium. By giving 

this permission, I understand that I retain any copyright and related rights that I may hold.

I hereby release NOAA and its assignees and designees, from any and all claims and demands arising 

out of or in connection with the use of My Collection, including but not limited to any claims for 

copyright infringement, defamation, invasion of privacy, or right of publicity.

Should any part of My Collection be found to include materials that NOAA/NMFS deems inappropriate 

for retention with the collection or for transfer to other collections in NOAA/NMFS, NOAA/NMFS may 

dispose of such materials in accordance with its procedures for disposition of materials not needed 

for NOAA’s collections.

I hereby state that I am of legal age and competent to sign this release. I agree that this release shall 

be binding on me, me legal representatives, heirs, and assigns. I have read this release form and am 

fully aware of its contents.

ACCEPTED AND AGREED

Signature ___________________________________________________ Date _____________ 

 month/day/year

Printed Name ______________________________________________________________________

Name of Interviewer (if applicable) _____________________________________________________

Relationship to Interviewer ___________________________________________________________
101

Appendix F

Interview Release Forms

NOAA’s Fisheries Service Interviewer, Recording Operator, Photographer 

Release Form for the Voices from the Fisheries Database

TO BE COMPLETED BY INTERVIEWERS, RECORDING OPERATORS, AND PHOTOGRAPHERS 

(Please circle appropriate category.)

I, _______________________________________________, am a participant in the Voices from 

the Fisheries Project (herinafter “VFFP”) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 

National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA/NMFS). I understand that the purpose of the VFFP is to 

collect audio- and video-recorded oral histories of the United States of America’s and its territories’ 

commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishermen and women, and those who support them, as 

well as selected related documentary materials such as photographs for inclusion in the Voices from 

the Fisheries Database (herinafter “VFF DB”). The VFF DB is housed on NOAA/NMFS servers and will 

be accessible to the public through a website. These oral histories and related materials serve as 

a record of the Nation’s commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries and as a scholarly and 

educational resource for NOAA/NMFS and the general public.

I understand that NOAA/NMFS plans to retain the product of my participation in the VFFP in digital 

form, including but not limited to my interview, presentation, video, photographs, statements, name, 

images or likeness, voice, and written materials (“My Collection”) as part of its permanent collections 

in the VFF Database.

I hereby grant to NOAA/NMFS ownership of the physical property comprising My Collection. 

Additionally, I hereby grant to NOAA, at no cost, the perpetual, nonexclusive, transferable, worldwide 

right to use, reproduce, transmit, display, perform, prepare derivative works from, distribute, and 

authorize the redistribution of the materials in My Collection in any medium. By giving this permission, 

I understand that I retain any copyright and related rights that I may hold.

I hereby release NOAA/NMFS, and its assignees and designees, from any and all claims and demands 

arising out of or in connection with the use of My Collection, including but not limited to any claims 

for copyright infringement, defamation, invasion of privacy, or right of publicity.

Should any part of My Collection be found to include materials that NOAA/NMFS deems inappropriate 

for retention with the collection or for transfer to other collections in NOAA/NMFS, NOAA/NMFS may 

dispose of such materials in accordance with its procedures for disposition of materials not needed 

for NOAA/NMFS’s collections.

I hereby state that I am of legal age and competent to sign this release. I agree that this release shall 

be binding on me, me legal representatives, heirs, and assigns. I have read this release form and am 

fully aware of its contents.

ACCEPTED AND AGREED

____________________________________________ ___________________ 

Signature Date (month/day/year)

____________________________________________ (_______) - _______________________ 

Printed Name Phone

____________________________________________ ___________________

Signature of Parent or Guardian (if interviewer is a minor) Date (month/day/year)

__________________________________________________________________________________

Address City State Zip

____________________________________________ ____________________________________

Name of Interviewee Email

 ________________________________________________

Partner Organization affiliation (if any)
102

Appendix G

School Project Pre-Interview Worksheet

Student Name(s)_____________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

The person I (we) plan to interview is: ____________________________________________

The interview topics are: ______________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The interview will take place: 

Date_________________________________________________________________

Time_________________________________________________________________

Location______________________________________________________________

Driver and/or chaperone ________________________________________________

Questions I (we) will ask are: ____________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

I (we) explained the purpose of the project and what we plan to do with it. Yes__ No__

I (we) asked the person if he or she could be tape recorded and/or videotaped? Yes__No__

I (we) explained the release form that the interviewee will be asked to sign. Yes__No__

Other people who will participate in this interview are: ______________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________
103

Appendix H

Audio and Video Recording and Photography Logs

Audio and Video Recording Log

Based on Library of Congress American Folklife Center Veterans History Project Forms

Name and address of collector or interviewer.

Name of Donor/Interviewer _________________________________________________

Address _________________________________________________________________

City _____________________________________State _______ Zip _______ - _______

Telephone (______) - ________________ Email ________________________________

Partner organization affiliation (if any) _________________________________________

2. Name and birth date of person being interviewed as it appears on the Biographical Data 

Form.

Name of Person Interviewed ____________________________Birth Date __________

 Month/day/year

3. Recording format (please check)

 Digital VIDEO File type: (not accepted at this time) Other (identify) ___________

Digital AUDIO File type: MP3

4. Estimated length of recording (in minutes) ____________ Date of Recording ________

 Month/day/year

5. Location of recording ______________________________________________________

6. Log the topics discussed in the interview sequence using the Voices of the Fisheries Topics list. Indicate where the topic occurs using the counter on your playback equipment or 

software. 

 

Location in Recording Topics

1.
104

Location in Recording Topics
105

Photograph Log

Based on Library of Congress American Folklife Center Veterans History Project Forms

Photographs are accepted in digitized formats only. Photographers should sign a release 

form when possible. If more than four photographs are submitted, please make copies of 

this form to complete.

 

PHOTOGRAPH #1

Place ___________________________________________________ Date ______________ 

 Month/day/year

Description _________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Names(s) of Person(s) and their Birth Date(s) in Photograph (if known). 

Person #1 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

Person #2 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

Person #3 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

Person #4 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

(if more than four identifiable people in photograph, continue on separate sheet)

Name of Photographer (if known) _______________________________________________

Address ____________________________________________________________________

City______________________________________ State _______Zip _______ - _______

Name of Donor ______________________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________________

City______________________________________ State _______Zip _______ - _______

Telephone (_______) - ______________________ Email ____________________________

Partner organization affiliation (if any) ____________________________________________

 

PHOTOGRAPH #2

Place ___________________________________________________ Date ______________ 

 Month/day/year

Description _________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Names(s) of Person(s) and their Birth Date(s) in Photograph (if known). 
106

Person #1 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

Person #2 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

Person #3 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

Person #4 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

(if more than four identifiable people in photograph, continue on separate sheet)

Name of Photographer (if known) _______________________________________________

Address ____________________________________________________________________

City______________________________________ State _______Zip _______ - _______

Name of Donor ______________________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________________

City______________________________________ State _______Zip _______ - _______

Telephone (_______) - ______________________ Email ____________________________

Partner organization affiliation (if any) ____________________________________________

PHOTOGRAPH #3

Place ___________________________________________________ Date ______________ 

 Month/day/year

Description _________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Names(s) of Person(s) and their Birth Date(s) in Photograph (if known). 

Person #1 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

Person #2 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

Person #3 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

Person #4 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

(if more than four identifiable people in photograph, continue on separate sheet)

Name of Photographer (if known) _______________________________________________

Address ____________________________________________________________________

City______________________________________ State _______Zip _______ - _______

Name of Donor ______________________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________________

City______________________________________ State _______Zip _______ - _______

Telephone (_______) - ______________________ Email ____________________________

Partner organization affiliation (if any) ____________________________________________
107

PHOTOGRAPH #4

Place ___________________________________________________ Date ______________ 

 Month/day/year

Description _________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Names(s) of Person(s) and their Birth Date(s) in Photograph (if known). 

Person #1 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

Person #2 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

Person #3 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

Person #4 _______________________________________ Birth Date ____________

 Month/day/year

(if more than four identifiable people in photograph, continue on separate sheet)

Name of Photographer (if known) _______________________________________________

Address ____________________________________________________________________

City______________________________________ State _______Zip _______ - _______

Name of Donor ______________________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________________

City______________________________________ State _______Zip _______ - _______

Telephone (_______) - ______________________ Email ____________________________

Partner organization affiliation (if any) ___________________________________________
108

Appendix I

Oral History Rubric

CATEGORY 4 3 2 1

Setting Up the 

Interview

The student introduced himself, 

explained why he 

wanted to interview the person, 

and asked permission to set up a 

time for an interview.

The student introduced himself and 

asked permission 

to set up a time for 

the interview, but 

needed a reminder 

to explain why he 

wanted to do the 

interview.

The student asked 

permission to set 

up a time for the 

interview, but 

needed reminders 

to introduce himself and tell why he 

wanted to interview the person.

The student needed assistance in all 

aspects of setting 

up the interview.

Preparation The student read a 

minimum of three 

sources related 

to the proposed 

interview. Before 

the interview, teh 

student prepared 

several in-depth 

AND factual questions to ask

The student read 

a minimum of two 

sources that related to the proposed 

interview. Before 

the interview, the 

student prepared a 

couple of in-depth 

questions and several factual questions to ask.

The student read 

a minimum of one 

source that related 

to the proposed 

interview. Before 

the interview, the 

student prepared 

several factual 

questions to ask.

The student did not 

read any material 

that related to the 

proposed interview. The student 

did not prepare any 

questions before 

the interview.

Follow-up 

Questions

The student 

listened carefully 

to the person being interviewed 

and asked several 

relevant follow-up 

questions based on 

what the person 

said.

The student listened carefully to 

the person being 

interviewed and 

asked a couple of 

relevant follow-up 

questions based on 

what the person 

said.

The student asked 

a couple of follow-up questions 

based on what s/he 

thought the person 

said.

The student did not 

ask any follow-up 

questions based on 

what the person 

said.

Sound Quality Both the interviewer and the person 

being interviewed 

can be heard/understood very 

clearly on the tape 

with no wind or 

background noise.

Both the interviewer and the person 

being interviewed 

can be heard/ 

understood very 

clearly on the tape, 

but there is some 

wind or background noise.

The person being 

interviewed can be 

heard/understood 

very clearly on 

the tape, but the 

interviewer’s voice 

is not easily heard.

The sound quality is poor, making 

it hard to hear/

understand the 

person being interviewed.

Formatting & 

Editing

The student edited 

and organized the 

transcript in a way 

that made the information clear and 

interesting.

The student edited 

and organized the 

transcript in a way 

that made the information clear.

The student edited 

and organized the 

transcript, but the 

information was 

not clear or as interesting as it could 

hae been.

The student did 

NOT edit or organize the transcript.
109

INSTRUCTIONS: Enter the requested information in the appropriate spaces in the Column 

on the RIGHT. The space will expand as needed. Save the document as a Word document. 

Email it to Voices@noaa.gov as an attachment to the email. Put “VFF Logon and Password 

Request” in the email subject box. 

Information About You, 

the Donor:

First Name (required):

Middle Name:

Last Name (required):

Suffix (e.g., Jr., Sr., III):

Street Address (required):

Street Address 2:

City (required):

State (required):

Zip Code (required):

Institutional Affiliation (if any):

Position (if any):

Telephone Area Code (required):

Telephone Number (required):

Email address (required): 

Information About Your Oral 

History Project or Collection:

Name of Collection/Project

(required):

New Collection/Project

(required): 

Education Project/Collection 

(required):

 Brief Description of Project/Collection (maximum 200 words, 

required):

Appendix J

How to Participate - Downloadable Project Information Form
110

Appendix K

Assessing Place-Based Initiatives Quick Reference Guide

Themes and Aspects for Entry 1: Student Learning and Contributions

Student Intellectual Growth

Promotes deep learning about important content

Promotes student ownership and control

Academic Rigor of the Project

Engages students in investigation, inquiry, and problem solving

Establishes clear and challenging learning goals

Enhances student learning through materials, resources, and support

Authenticity of the Project

Addresses a real community need or interest 

Helps students take on community roles

Engages students in real work that produces results

Develops students’ appreciation and understanding of place

Assessment

Involves all participants in assessing learning

Relies on multiple sources of information to assess learning

Uses the results of assessment to facilitate learning

Themes and Aspects for Entry 2: Community Learning and Contributions

Connections between School and Community

Builds school-community connections

Addresses a community problem, issue, or interest

Honors the local culture

Process

Welcomes the questions and complications that arise from the work

Builds access, communication, and trust

Roles and Relationships

Supports adults to take on new roles

Cultivates new leadership

Nurtures new relationships

Promotes shared responsibility and accountability

Community Learning

Leads to new community understandings

Engages adults in learning

Fosters a culture of learning

Themes and Aspects for Entry 3: Deepening and Spreading the Work

Instructional Spread

Impacts curriculum

Impacts teaching styles and teachers’ expectations for students

Helps students stretch themselves as learners, problem solvers, and leaders

Community Engagement

Involves a wide variety of individuals and organizations

Leads to increasing impact in the community

Supporting Structures

Is supported by teacher development and planning

Is supported by school policies and practices

Influences community polices and structures

Broadens school’s role within the community

New Resources and Connections

Attracts and creates new resources

Spreads to new places

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•
111

Appendix L

Guilford School Oral History Standards

K-8 CONTINUUM OF STANDARDS · RELATED TO ORAL HISTORY

COMMUNICATION STANDARDS

WRITING

1.5 - Students draft, revise, edit and critique written products...

1.6 - Students’ independent writing demonstrates command of appropriate English conventions, including grammar, usage and mechanics.

1.8 - In written reports, students organize and convey information and ideas accurately and 

effectively.

1.9 - In written narratives, students organize and relate a series of events, fictional or actual, 

in a coherent whole.

LISTENING

1.13 - Students listen actively and respond to communications.

1.14 - Students critique what they have heard.

1.15 - Students use verbal and nonverbal skills to express themselves effectively.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

1.18 - Students use computers, telecommunications and other tools of technology to research, to gather information and ideas, and to represent information and ideas accurately 

and appropriately.

REASONING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

2.1- Students ask a variety of questions.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

3.10 - Students perform effectively on teams that set and achieve goals, conduct investigations, solve problems, and create solutions.

3.14 - Students demonstrate dependability, productivity and initiative.

CIVIC AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

4.1 - Students take an active role in their community.

4.2 - Students participate in the democratic process.

4.3 - Students demonstrate understanding of the cultural expressions that are characteristic 

of particular groups.

Numbering system references VT Framework of Standards

This document was developed by staff, community members and 

students at 1996 Guilford Institute

http://www.vermontcommunityworks.org/cwresources/cwtools/communitytools/orhiststand.htm, ©1996 Guilford Central School
112

GLOSSARY

Culture: Culture is the shared code of meanings, conventions and knowledge that lie behind a 

people’s way of life. It is the “common sense” of a particular society. Culture is learned through the 

acquisition of a language, through observation, and through experience. Some call these patterns of 

life in communities socio-cultural systems.

Ethnoecology: Ethnoecology is the study of local or native people’s interaction with the environment 

in which they live and work, including their perceptions, use and management, and knowledge. Subdisciplines of ethnoecology include ethnobiology, ethnobotany, ethnozoology, and ethnopharmacology. Both social scientists and natural scientists do this research working with local people. 

Diagnostic Assessment: Diagnostic assessments (also known as pre-assessments) provide instructors 

with information about student’s prior knowledge and misconceptions before beginning a learning 

activity.

Formative Assessment: An assessment carried out during student work, not necessarily graded, that 

adds to student learning.

Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK): LEK is what people know about their local environment, how they 

acquired the knowledge, and their resource management practices 

Local Fisheries Knowledge (LFK): LFK is knowledge of commercial, subsistence, and recreational 

marine fishing or harvest, including the marine environment and species, fishing culture and society, 

fishing technology and practices, and business and economic aspects of fishing. LFK is acquired and 

possessed by those involved on a day-to-day basis in marine fishing / harvesting and related activities (e.g., fish processing, boat building, and fishing gear construction). LFK is derived from personal 

and collective observations and experiences over a single lifetime and/or passed down through 

many generations. It is transmitted orally and through observation. It can be possessed personally 

and communally. It is connected to place and is locally specific.

Summative Assessment: An assessment, typically at the end of a unit or lesson, that is graded and is 

intended to assess mastery of lesson, discipline standards, or subject objectives.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK): TEK is a similar term to local ecological knowledge but is 

most often used in relation to ecological knowledge possessed by indigenous or aboriginal people, 

such as Native Americans. 

Understanding by Design (UbD): UbD is a framework for designing curriculum units, performance 

assessments, and instruction that lead students to deep understanding of the content. UbD focuses 

on “backward design” - an instructional process that begins with the desired results and then plans 

the curriculum, choosing activities and materials that help foster student learning (Wiggins & McTighe, 2001).
113

REFERENCES

References Cited in Text

Abbott-Jamieson, Susan. Using Oral History Techniques in a NOAA Fisheries Service 

(NMFS) Education and Outreach Project: Preserving Local Fisheries Knowledge, Linking 

Generations, and Improving Environmental Literacy. NAPA Bulletin, No. 28. Arlington, VA: 

American Anthropological Association, p. 134-142, 2007.

America COMPETES Act (Public Law 110-69). Online at http://www.nist.gov/admin/

legislation_new/PL110-69_8907.pdf (accessed 3 January 2009).

Berkes, Fikret. Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Perspective. In Traditional Ecological Knowledge: 

Concepts and Cases. Julian T. Inglis, ed. Ottawa, Ottawa, International Program on Traditional 

Ecological Knowledge and International Development Research Centre, 1993, p. 1-6.

Bloom, Benjamin S., ed. Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. 

Handbook 1: Cognitive domain. New York: David McKay, 1956.

Brunton, Catherine. Students launch fisheries into cyberspace. Fishermen’s Voice Vol. 9, No. 1 

(2004): B-6

Byers, Fred R. Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists. 

Pp. 48, 2003. Available online at http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub121/

pub121.pdf (accessed 1 August 2008).

Charlton, Thomas L., Lois E. Myers, and Rebecca Sharpless, eds. History of Oral History: Foundations 

and Methodology, Parts I and II. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2007.

Daley, Beth and Gareth Cook. A once great industry on the brink. Boston Globe, Oct 26-29, 2003. 

Online at http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2003/10/26/a_once_great_in

dustry_on_the_brink/ (accessed 3 January 2009). 

Gatto, Michael. Part One: Planning Your Project. World War II, a Videotape Oral History Project. The 

History Channel Student Workbook. No date. Available online at http://www.history.com/

classroom/worldwarII/media/Part_One_Interview_Guide.pdf (accessed 1 January 2009).

GENERATION YES Blog, February 14, 08. Response to Jane David’s article “What Research Says About 

Project-Based Learning.” Educational Leadership, February, 2008. (GENERATION YES Blog, 

2008) 

Harvard Graduate School of Education. Living and Learning in Rural Schools and Communities, 1999.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard Graduate School of Education, 1999.
114

Hunt, Marjorie. The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide. Center for Folklife and 

Cultural Heritage. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2003. Available at http://www.

folklife.si.edu/resources/pdf/interviewingguide.pdf (accessed August 6, 2008).

Isé, Jennifer and Susan Abbott-Jamieson. Students Gather Local Fisheries Knowledge as Part of a 

NOAA Fisheries Education and Outreach Project. Practicing Anthropology Vol. 27 (2005): 29-32.

Kurlansky, Mark. Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World. New York: Walker and Co, 1997.

Kolvos, Andy. Digital Audio Field Recording Equipment Guide. Vermont Folklife Center, 2008. 

Available online at http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/archive/res_audioequip.htm 

(accessed 1 August 2008).

Lanman, Barry A. and Laura M. Wendling, eds. Preparing the Next Generation of Oral Historians: An 

Anthology of Oral History Education. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2006.

Meltzer, Julie. “Purposeful Integration of Literacy Support and Development into Place-based 

Learning Projects.” Worksheet created for the Rural School and Community Trust, 2007.

NMFS. Voices from the Fisheries System Version 2.0 Users Guide. U.S. Department of Commerce, 

NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, MD., 2008. Available online at 

https://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/vff/html/VFF2.0_User_Guide.pdf (accessed 3 January 2009).

NOAA, NOAA Education Council. NOAA’s Education Strategic Plan: Science, Service, and Stewardship. 

U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

Washington, D.C., November 20, 2008 Draft.

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110). Available online at http://www.ed.gov/

policy/elsec/leg/esea02/107-110.pdf (accessed 24 February 2009). 

Oral History Assciation. Oral History Evaluation Guideline, 1991. Available online at 

http://alpha.dickinson.edu/oha/pub_ps.html (accessed 31 December 2008).

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Learning for the 21st Century: A Report and Mile Guide for21st 

Century Skills. Washington, D.C.: Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2004 . 

Powers, Willow Roberts. Transcription Techniques for the Spoken Word. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira 

Press, 2005.

Rural School and Community Trust. The Place-based Learning Portfolio, 2003. Available online at 

www.portfolio.ruraledu.org (accessed 31 December 2008).

Ryan, Joe. U.S. State Historical Societies and State Archives Directory. Available online at http://web.

syr.edu/~jryan/infopro/hs.html (accessed 3 January 2009). 

Yow, Valerie Raleigh. Chap. 11 Conclusion of the Project, p. 311-324. Recording Oral History, 2nd ed. 

Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2005. 

Van Bogart, John W.C. Van. Magnetic Tape Storage and Handling: A Guide for Libraries and Archives. 

Washington, D.C.: The Commission on Preservation and Access and the National Media 

Laboratory, 1995. Available online at http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub54/index.html 

(accessed 1 August 2008).
115

Wiggins, Grant P. and Jay McTigue. Understanding by Design. Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Merrill/

Prentice Hall, 2001. 

Yow, Valerie Raleigh. Chap. 11 Conclusion of the Project, p. 311-324. Recording Oral History, 2nd ed. 

Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2005. 

Additional Print Resources Not Cited in Text

The list does not imply endorsement of any particular work. This is not a complete ist. This list will be 

updated periodically to include additional material brought to our attention.

Field Guides and Other General Work on Oral History 

Allen, Barbara, and William L. Montell. From Memory to History: Using Oral Sources in Local 

Historical Research. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1981.

Baum, Willa K. Oral History for the Local Historical Society. 3rd ed., rev. Walnut Creek, Calif.; AltaMira 

Press, 1995.

Bernard, H. Russell. Chapter 9, “Interviewing: Unstructured and Semistructured,” in Research 

Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. 4th ed. Lanham, MD: 

AltaMira Press, p. 210-250, 2006.

Hall, Stephanie A. Ethnographic Collections in the Archive of FolkCulture: A Contributor’s Guide. 

Washington, DC: Publications of the American Folklife Center, no. 20, 1995. Available online 

at www.loc.gov/folklife/cg.html (accessed 30 December 2008).

Ives, Edward. The Tape Recorded Interview. 2nd ed. Knoxville: Universityof Tennessee, 1995.

Ives, Edward, and Bruce Jackson. The World Observed: Reflections on the Fieldwork Process. Urbana: 

University of Illinois Press, 1996.

Library of Congress. Folklife and Fieldwork: A Layman’s Introduction to Field Techniques. Publicatons 

of the American Folklife Center, No. 3. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, First edition 

prepared by Peter Bartis, 1979, revised 2002. Available online at http://www.loc.gov/folklife/

fieldwork/pdf/fieldwkComplete.pdf (accessed 6 December 2008).

Ritchie, Donald A. Doing Oral History. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1995.

Spradley, James P. The Ethnographic Interview. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1979.

Schneider, William. So They Understand: Cultural Issues in Oral History. Logan, Utah: Utah State 

University Press, 2002.

Taylor, David A. Documenting Maritime Folklife: An Introductory Guide. Washington, DC: Publications 

of the American Folklife Center, no. 17, 1992. Available online at www.loc.gov/folklife/

maritime (accessed 31 December 2008).
116

Recording Technology, Transcription, Preservation 

Library of Congress Preservation. Caring for Your Collections. Available online at http://lcweb.loc.

gov/preserv/ (accessed 31 December 2008).

 

Books Based on Oral History (organized by region) 

Northeast

Albee, Parker Bishop, Jr. Letters from the Sea, 1882-1901, Joanna and Lincoln Colford’s Seafaring 

Childhood. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House and Penobscot Maritime Museum, unknown 

publication date.

Barringer, Richard. Changing Maine: 1960-2010. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House and University of 

Southern Maine, 2004.

Bunting, W.H. The Camera’s Coast: Historic Images of Ships and Shore in New England. Gardiner, ME: 

Tilbury House, 2006.

Bunting, W.H. Sea Struck. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House and Martha’s Vineyard Historical Museum and 

New Bedford Whaling Museum, unknown publication date.

Calabretta, Fred. Fishing out of Stonington. Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport, 2004.

Carey, Richard Adams. Against the Tide: The Fate of the New England Fisherman. New York: Mariner 

Books, 2000.

Crocker, Mike. Sharing the Ocean: Stories of Science, Politics and Ownership from America’s Oldest 

Industry. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House and Northeast Atlantic Marine Alliance, 2008.

Dobbs, David. The Great Gulf: Fishermen, Scientists, and the Struggle to Revive the World’s Greatest 

Fishery. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2000.

Garland, Joseph. Gloucester on the Wind: America’s Greatest Fishing Port in the Days of Sail. Dover, 

NH: Arcadia Publishing, 1995.

Greenlaw, Linda. All Fishermen are Liars: True Tales from the Dry Dock Bar. New York: Hyperion, 2004.

Greenlaw, Linda. The Hungry Ocean. New York, Hyperion, 1999.

Greenlaw, Linda. The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island. New York: Hyperion, 2003.

Johnson, Tora. Entanglements: The Interwined Fates of Whales and Fishermen. Gainesville, FL: 

University Press of Florida, 2005.

Kurlansky, Mark. The Big Oyster: A History on the Half Shell. New York: Ballantine Books, 2006.

Kurlansky, Mark. The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America’s 

Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town. New York: Ballantine Books, 2008.

Leavans, John. The Catboat Era in Newport, Rhode Island. Ed. Judith Navas Lund. Gardiner, ME: 

Tilbury House, 2005.
117

Lee, Linsey. Vineyard Voices: Words, Faces and Voices of Island People. Edgartown, MA: Martha’s 

Vineyard Historical Museum, 1998.

Lee, Linsey. More Vineyard Voices: Words, Faces and Voices of Island People. Edgartown, MA: 

Martha’s Vineyard Historical Museum, 2005.

McCabe, Marsha and Joseph D. Thomas. Portuguese Spinner. New Bedford, MA: Spinner 

Publications, 1998.

Mensch, Barbara C. and Phillip Lopate. South Street. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.

Molyneaux, Paul. The Doryman’s Reflection. New York: Basic Books, 2005.

Norling, Lisa. Captain Ahab Had a Wife: New England Women and the Whalefishery, 1720-1870. 

Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.

Paine, Lincoln P. Down East: A Maritime History of Maine. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House and OpSail 

Maine, 2000.

Playfair, Susan. Vanishing Species, Saving the Fish, Sacrificing the Fishermen. Lebanon, NH: University 

Press of New England, 2005.

Smith, Leah J. and Susan B. Peterson. The New England Fishing Industry: A Basis for Management. 

WHOI Technical Paper, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Woods Hole, MA, August 1977.

Tollefson, Astrid. Following the Waters: Voices from the Final Norwegian Emigration. Brewster, MA: 

Leifur Publications, 2005.

Trueworthy, Nance. Down the Shore: The Faces of Maine’s Coastal Fisheries. Camden, ME: Down 

East, 2004.

Vickers, Daniel. Farmers and Fishermen: Two Centuries of Work in Essex County, Massachusetts, 

1630-1850. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1994.

Vincent, Ellen. Down on the Island, Up on the Main: A Recollected History of South Bristol Maine. 

Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House and South Bristol Historical Society, 2003.

Woodward, Colin. The Lobster Coast: Rebels, Rusticators, and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier. 

New York: Viking, 2004.

Southeast, including Caribbean

Buckley, Michael. Voices of the Chesapeake Bay. Edgewater, MD: Geared Up Publications, 2008.

Burrell, Victor G., Jr. The Recreational Fishery in South Carolina: The Little River Story. Columbia, SC: 

South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, unknown publication date.

Burrell, Victor G., Jr. South Carolina Oyster Industry: A History. Columbia, SC: South Carolina 

Department of Natural Resources, unknown publication date.
118

Cecelski, David S. The Waterman’s Song: Slavery and Freedom in Maritime North Carolina. Chapel 

Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

Chowning, Larry S. Harvesting the Chesapeake: Tools and Traditions. Centreville, MD: Tidewater 

Publishers, 1990.

Feltault, Kelly. It’s How You Pick the Crab: An Oral Portrait of Eastern Shore Crab Picking. St. Michaels, 

MD: Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, unknown publication date.

Garrity-Blake, Barbara. The Fish Factory: Work and Meaning for Black and White Fishermen in the 

American Menhaden Industry. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 2005.

Holland, F. Ross. Maryland Lighthouses of the Chesapeake Bay. Crownsville, MD: Maryland Historical 

Trust Press, 1997.

Jacoby, Mark E. Working the Chesapeake: Watermen on the Bay. College Park, MD: Maryland Sea 

Grant, 1991.

Johnson, Paula. Working the Water: The Commercial Fisheries of Maryland’s Patuxent River. 

Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1988.

Lawson, Glenn. The Last Waterman: A True Story. Crisfield, MD: Crisfield Publishing, 1988.

Levinson, Josh. Dropnet Tribes: Making a Day’s Work in North Carolina’s Winter Fishery. Masters 

Degree Thesis. University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. 2002.

Mullen, Patrick. I Heard the Old Fishermen Say: Folklore of the Texas Gulf Coast. Austin, TX: 

University of Texas Press, 1978.

Perez, Karni R. Fishing for Gold: The Story of Alabama’s Catfish Industry. Tuscaloosa, AL: Alabama 

University Press, 2006.

Trubyville, Linda. Bay Beacons: Lighthouses of the Chesapeake Bay. Trappe, MD: Eastwind Publishing, 1995.

Vojtech, Pat. Lighting the Bay: Tales of Chesapeake Lighthouses. Centreville, MD: Tidewater 

Publishers, 1996.

West, Susan and Barbara Garrity-Blake. Fish House Opera. Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport, 2003.

Younker, Richard. “Yankin’ and Liftin” Their Whole Lives: A Mississippi River Fishermen. Carbondale, 

IL: University of Southern Illinois Press, 2000.

Great Lakes

Chiarappa, Michael and Kristin Szylvian. Fish for All: An Oral History of Multiple Claims and Divided 

Sentiment on Lake Michigan. East Lansing: MI: Michigan State University Press, 2003.

Lloyd, Tim. Lake Eire Fishermen: Work, Identity and Tradition. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois 

Press, 1990.

Lund, Jens. Flatheads and Spoonies: Fishing for a Living in the Ohio River Valley. Unknown publisher, 

unknown publication date.
119

Southwest

Duncan, Jeanne. Trolling on the Edge – the Story of a Noyo Fisherman. Victoria, BC: Trafford 

Publishing, 2001.

McKibben, Carol Lynn. Beyond Cannery Row: Sicilian Women, Immigration and Community in 

Monterey, California. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2006.

Northwest

Allison, Charlene J., Sue-Ellen Jacobs, and Mary A. Porter. Winds of Change: Women in Northeast 

Commercial Fishing. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1990.

Gilmore, Janet. The World of the Oregon Fishboat: A Study in Maritime Folklore. Pullman, WA: 

Washington State University Press, 1999.

White, Richard. The Organic Machine. New York: Hill and Wang, 1996.

Alaska

Fields, Leslie Leyland. The Entangling Net: Alaska’s Commercial Fishing Women Tell Their Lives. 

Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1997.

Fields, Leslie Leyland. Out on the Deep Blue: Women, Men and the Oceans They Fish. New York: 

Thomas Dunne Books, 2002.

World Wide

McCloskey, William. Their Father’s Work: Casting Nets with the World’s Fishermen. Thomaston, ME: 

International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 2000.

Glenn, Morris F. and Katherine A. Teetor. The Historic Thompson’s Point Fishing Ground. Charlotte, 

VT: Charlotte Historical Society, 2005.

Greenleaf, Elizabeth Bristol and Grace Yarrow Mansfield. Ballads and Sea-Songs of Newfoundland. 

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1933.

Iglauer, Edith. Fishing With John. Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 1992.

Newell, Dianne and Rosemary E. Ommer. Fishing Places, Fishing People: Traditions and Issues in 

Canadian Small Scale Fisheries. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.

Smylie, Mike. Herring: The History of Silver Darlings. London: Tempus, 2004.
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Useful Websites

Oral History Sites

American Folklife Center, Library of Congress - http://www.loc.gov/folklife/

Indiana University, Center for the Study of History and Memory - http://www.indiana.edu/~cshm/

Montana Heritage Project - http://www.edheritage.org 

Oral History Association home page at Dickinson College - http://alpha.dickinson.edu/oha/

Pre-Collegiate Oral History Projects list - http://www.doingoralhistory.org/in_classroom/exemplary_

projects.htm

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Culture - http://www.folklife.si.edu/

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Southern Oral History Program - http://www.unc.edu/depts/sohp 

Utah State University, Oral History Program - http://www.usu.edu/~oralhist/oh.html

Vermont Folklife Center - http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/

Other Sites

Partnership for 21st Century Skills - http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

Rural School and Community Trust - http://www.ruraledu.org/site/c.beJMIZOCIrH/b.497215/k.CBA7/

Home.htm

U.S. Copyright Office - http://www.copyright.gov/
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