Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Sustaining a local fishery

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.”

Read the full article at CAI

MASSACHUSETTS: Major Grant Goes to Fishermen’s Preservation Trust

August 26, 2020 — The Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust has received a $250,000 grant to expand its community seafood program, allowing it to buy, process and donate a surplus of black sea bass and scup for chowder donations throughout the Island.

The grant was awarded by Catch Together, a nonprofit organization that invests capital in support of fishermen, fishing communities and ocean conservation throughout the country, according to a press release from the preservation trust.

Since the pandemic began in mid-March, demand from high-end restaurants and wholesalers for seafood has plummeted, driving down prices for local fishermen and leading to large surpluses of once-invaluable catch, like scallops, lobster and oysters.

In response, the fishermen’s preservation trust — an Island nonprofit dedicated to supporting and preserving the Island’s independent fishermen — came up with a creative solution, starting its community seafood program in April of this year.

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette

Fishermen’s Trust secures $250,000 grant

August 25, 2020 — The Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust was awarded a $250,000 grant to expand its Community Seafood Program.

The grant was awarded by Catch Together, a nonprofit organization that invests capital in support of fishermen, fishing communities, and ocean conservation throughout the country, according to a press release from the trust. The grant gives the trust the ability to purchase and process black sea bass and scup for fish chowder production, which will be donated to Island food organizations.

The program was established in April with the goal of linking fishermen to food support organizations. The program started with local sea scallops, and to date has donated 1,925 pounds of sea scallops to food organizations across the Island.

Read the full story at MV Times