This project was undertaken for the U.S. Department of Commerce to improve documentation of fishing-related aspects of life and the economic importance of fishing and fishing related industries in a total of 335 communities along the Gulf of Mexico. Findings derive from: (a) ethnographic documentation of fishing-related physical and service infrastructure in each study community; (b) analysis of secondary source data regarding local demographic and economic conditions and local participation in the commercial and recreational fishing industries, and (c) hundreds of interviews with business owners, fishermen, and local, state, and federal agency representatives across the region. Project findings contributed extensively to regulatory analyses conducted by NOAA Fisheries under stipulations in the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act and to assessment of fisheries-related damages resulting from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.