November 13, 2026 — What does the non-profit Vineyard Fisherman’s Preservation Trust do? Executive director Shelley Edmundson explains it this way, “We try to help keep the island’s commercial fishermen fishing.”
This might sound simple, but there are many layers. Since the Trust first took this job on in 2011, it has pivoted again and again to do what’s necessary. That turns out to be a lot.
When they first started, the main concern was helping fishermen secure and finance permits. Then a decade later, the Trust stepped in when a wholesaler on the docks in Menemsha announced they were closing down.
“That wholesaler was getting out of it,” Edmundson says. “Covid, all sorts of things, were layering up and they were shutting their doors. So, we have a small wholesale fish shack on the waterfront where we buy and sell seafood.”