Interviewer: Preetam Prakash

Affiliation: University of Arizona

I had met Mrs. Bosarge at a meeting of the South Bay Community Alliance, a non-profit based in Coden, which had formed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I had told her about the project that I was working on in the area and that I was hoping to conduct some oral history interviews with local people who had some knowledge of and experience in the seafood industry. She had told me that her family had been in the seafood business for many years and that she had grown up working in their oyster plant, and that she might be willing to do an oral history interview.

I contacted Mrs. Bosarge when I arrived back in the area in January 2011. After speaking on the phone a few times, we agreed to meet at her home in Coden. Mrs. Bosarge’s husband, Bubba, was also present when I arrived, and also participated in the interview. Both of them had been born and raised in the area around Bayou La Batre in families with long histories in the local seafood industry. They spoke about the history of this industry in the area as well its relationship with other industries, such as shipbuilding and fabrication and the offshore oil industry. Both agreed that the 1970s represented one of the halcyon periods of the local seafood industry, and were uncertain whether such prosperity would ever return. They had operated their oyster shop until 2005, when Hurricane Katrina leveled both the shop and their home. Since then, Mrs. Bosarge has become increasingly involved with non-profit activities in the area and Mr. Bosarge has begun to work as a truck driver for one of the major seafood processors in town.