A Category 3 hurricane encompassing 400 miles, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States on August 29, 2005. Hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were displaced from their homes, and experts estimate that Katrina caused more than $100 billion in damage. This project was funded in the immediate aftermath by NOAA; its purpose was to enable a thorough assessment of Hurricane Katrina’s initial impacts on 38 fishing communities in affected areas of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Lead IAI researchers were deployed soon after the storm made landfall, and the research team continued to document and monitor conditions during the remainder of 2005 and into the summer months of 2006. The research resulted in one final report and one widely read article.