The Martha’s Vineyard Sustainable Seafood Collaborative
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We have launched an urgent fundraising campaign to create the MV Sustainable Seafood Collaborative. We seek to raise $500,000 by February 2021 so the MVSSC can be operational by the start of the fishing season in April.
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To date, we have raised $515,000 in pledges and donations towards our $500,000 goal!
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This start-up capital will allow the program to operate for all of 2021
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Our aim is for the program to be financially self-sustaining thereafter
MV Sustainable Seafood Collaborative Goals:
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Save the 2021 commercial fishing season for Martha’s Vineyard’s locally owned, small-boat commercial fishing industry
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Help preserve the iconic Menemsha waterfront as a working harbor for years to come
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Stabilize over 100 local fishing businesses
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Increase the availability of locally sourced seafood for Island restaurants and markets
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Utilize surplus fish to create meals to be donated to families in need

Menemsha harbor building to be used as the headquarters for the MV Sustainable Seafood Collaborative.
In order to move forward with the Martha’s Vineyard Sustainable Seafood Collaborative, we need to raise $500,000 by February. Why the rush? There is a lot to do to get the facility ready to operate for the start of the commercial fishing season in April. Repairs need to be made on the building, equipment needs to be purchased, permits to purchase and process fish need to be obtained, employees need to be hired, and seafood certification courses taken.
Please donate to the MV Sustainable Seafood Collaborative!
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Please select
'MV Sustainable Seafood Collaborative'
from the drop-down menu.
Thank you to our wonderful supporters!
$100,000+
Sarah Bernard and James Seppala
$50,000 to $99,999
Cronin Family
Betsy and Jesse Fink*
Fred Khedouri and Sarah Glazer
$10,000 to $49,999
Anonymous
Karen and Dave Davis
The Fialkow Family Foundation at
John Fisher and Jennifer Caldwell
The Boston Foundation
Travis Lenkner and Erin Delaney
Martha's Vineyard Community Foundation
John and Melissa McDonald
Jim and Susan Swartz
Alec and Sally Walsh
Amy and John Weinberg
$2,500 to $9,999
Anonymous
Steve Bernier
Stephen and Pam Besse
The Biondi Family Fund
John Callagy
Captain Brian Curry
Laurie David and Bart Thorpe
Cori and Kenny DiPietro
Michaelene Durst
Alex and Amy Finklestein
Elise and Greg Green
Deborah Hancock
Beth Harris
Richard Kauffman and Ellen Jewett
John Keene Excavation
Christina Lurie
James Marrow and Emily Rose
Vivian and Lionel Spiro
Stanley Startzell and Debbi Zetterberg
Alexandra and David Stern
Jack and Lucy Taylor
Up to $2,499
Anonymous (3)
Warren Adams
Mark Alexander
Magdalena Andres
Christopher Anderson and Makenzie Brookes
Noah Asimow
Andrea Attisani
Bob Avakian
Paul Bagnall
Elizabeth Barnes
Donald Barrett
Brooke Bartletta
Beal Family Charitable Trust
Valerie and John Becker
Beetlebung Tree Care
Lawrence Bell
Wendy and Dan Bender
Linda Benton
Deborah Birnbach
Karen Bishop
Janice Blum
Captain Mohawk Bolin
Kib and Tess Bramhall
Carol and George Brush
Judith Buss
Daniel Cahillane
Claire Callagy
Edward Cardoza
Katie Carroll
Allison Cameron Parry
Deborah Colgan
Catherine Colton
Sharon Cooke
Norma Costain and Geoff Kontje
Pamela and Bill Craven
Pamela Crigler
Marylouise Crofton-Atkins
Judith Crowley
Theresa Culletto
John Cushman
Elizabeth Dagres
Celeste Damon
David Damroth
Arne de Keijzer
Hannah de Keijzer
Abigail Dillon
Vicki Divoll
Niaz Dory
John Durovsik
Ed and Lea Edmundson
Craig and Alysa Emden
Linda Fairstein
Deborah Fehr
Corinne Field
Fred Fournier/Landscope
Ann Freedberg
Robert Gaffey
James Gammill
Patricia Garbutt
Marcia Gethin-Jones
Brian Giles
Andy Goldman and Susan Heilbron
Nina Gordon
Nancy and Rick Gould
Taylor Gould
James Graham
Gerald Green
Emma Green-Beach
Jane Greene
Jay Grossman and Nancy Grundman
Melissa and Fain Hackney
Richard Hall
Beth Harris
Clayton Henke
Carly Herosian
Abigail and Tony Higgins
Guinevere Higgins
Janet Hofmann
Andrew and Ellen Jacknain
John Jacobs
Luanne Johnson
Tom Johnson
Gerald Jones
James Joyce
Lauren Kelly
J.R. Kern
Lisa Kerns
Ellie and Charlie Kirkpatrick
Roman Kogan
David Kolb
Joan Kriegstein
Kaitlyn Kurth
Rebecca and Paxson Laird
Peter Lambos
Richard Lambos
Elizabeth Laskin
Cilla Lavin
Elizabeth Lee
Ann Lees
Richard Leonard
Justin List
Clem and Diana Littleton
Gregory Lott
James Lukas
Maria Elena Lynch
Barbara MacLaughlin
Ian McLaughlin
Jim and Joan Malkin
Joshua Mangerson
Alison Manning and Alison Weaver
June Manning
Steve and Jean Mansfield
Courtney Marek
Martha's Vineyard Surfcasters Association
Captain Matt and Molly Mayhew
Simone Mazzanti
Elizabeth McGhee
David Merry
Catherine Minkiewicz
Heidi Modaro
Suzanne and Sergio Modigliani
Patrick Moran
Bob and Susan Morgenthau
Angel Morris
Nina Morris
Sandy and April Neubauer
Never Nominated Productions
Julia Neville
Andrew Noyes
Ann Noyes
Liz Olson
Kirk Oswald
Ben Palaisa
Alex Pardo
Helen and Riggs Parker
John Pattison
Judy and Bob Peterson
Carollyn Philip
Francis Pitts
Jeffrey Pollard
Theresa Razmakhnin
Mary Rentschler and John Fuller
Jessica Roddy
Ellen and Jim Rogers
Cynthia Roy
Edwin Schlossberg
William Seward
Jeff and Deb Silliman Wass
Dardanella Slavin
Brian Smith
Elizabeth Smith
Eric Smith
Richard Smith
Margaret Snow
Valerie Sonnenthal
Jeffrey Spear
Julia Spiro
Bonnie Stacy
Nancy Strauss
Beth Swartz
Jeanne Swope
Julie Taymor
David Teitel
Zoe and Simon Thompson
Peter Tollman and Linda Kaplan
Elissa Turnbull
Peter Vaz
Lynn Vera
Mary Vivian and Kirk Briggs
Valerie Vivian
Carolyn and Phil Wallis
Robert Watt
Charles Wendel
Doug West and Irene Ziebarth
Soo Whiting
Vlad Wojcik
Phyllis Yale
*A special thank you to Betsy and Jesse Fink for their catalytic financial and advisory support over the past few months as MVFPT developed this initiative!
To learn more about our plans check out the following news articles and read below:
Fish House Revival Moves Closer to Reality in Menemsha, Vineyard Gazette, January 22, 2021
Fishermen's Trust Eyes Fish House Revival in Menemsha, Vineyard Gazette, December 16, 2020
New Stewards Sought for Menemsha Fish House, MV Times, December 16, 2020
The Problem:
In October 2020, the Island’s largest year-round wholesale seafood buyer, the Menemsha Fish House (MFH), permanently closed its doors. This closure could not have come at a worse time for Martha’s Vineyard’s small-boat fishing industry. Without this wholesale market, many of the Island’s fishermen are left without a large outlet for their catch. This will force some to travel to the mainland and others to end their fishing businesses entirely. Without any intervention, this market closure will almost certainly lead to the decline of our community fishing industry, decay of our working waterfront, and permanent loss of the authentic character and vitality of the Island’s harbors.
The pandemic brought unprecedented challenges in 2020 and increased the strain on Island businesses both on and off the water. Our fishermen have been navigating unpredictable market prices, lower demand, and the need to create new ways to sell their catch. In response, the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust launched our Community Seafood Program which helped fishermen and fed families in need by purchasing over 47,000 pounds of seafood from local fishermen, processing it into meals, and donating these meals to the island’s various charitable food organizations. While this program was very successful and we plan to continue it as needed, having a larger wholesale market is essential for the survival of many commercial fishing operations. Our Island fishermen need a way to sell the local seafood they harvest and have it distributed to Island markets, restaurants, and off-Island buyers.
Our Solution:
With the critical need for the Island’s community fishermen to have an outlet to sell their catch, we aim to launch the Martha’s Vineyard Sustainable Seafood Collaborative, which the MVFPT will operate as a local seafood wholesale buyer in MFH’s former harbor location starting in the spring of 2021. This new program will be capable of purchasing hundreds of thousands of pounds of local seafood year-round and distributing it on and off the Island, a vital service for Vineyard fishermen. Along with the opportunity to take over the former MFH location, we are also planning to bring Peter Lambos, MFH’s former General Manager, aboard as the Martha’s Vineyard Sustainable Seafood Collaborative’s Director of Operations. Pete’s direct, hands-on experience in managing MFH’s seafood purchasing and wholesale operation is an invaluable resource in successfully launching this new MVFPT initiative. Pete is a born and raised Islander and has spent nearly his entire professional career in service to his community.

Peter Lambos, working at the Menemsha Fish House
Prior to joining the Vineyard’s commercial fishing industry at MFH, Pete served as Executive Director of the MV Boys & Girls Club (2007-2016) and as General Manager of the MV Ice Arena (2016-2018). Pete’s community ties and experience in both non-profit and seafood industry management make him a perfect fit to lead this initiative. The Martha’s Vineyard Sustainable Seafood Collaborative will support the mission of the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust by 1) providing a competitive wholesale market for local fishermen and aquaculture farmers to sell their entire catch, 2) educating the public and customers to increase the value and demand for locally caught and produced seafood, and 3) preserving the culture and heritage of the historically vital fishing industry on the Island. As a completely local operation run by our non-profit organization, the Martha’s Vineyard Sustainable Seafood Collaborative will be focused on serving the Island’s community fishermen and supplying the Island with local seafood.
Fundraising Goal and Timeline:
In order to move forward with the Martha’s Vineyard Sustainable Seafood Collaborative, we need to raise $500,000 by February. Why the rush? There is a lot to do to get the facility ready to operate for the start of the commercial fishing season in April. Repairs need to be made on the building, equipment needs to be purchased, permits to purchase and process fish need to be obtained, employees need to be hired, and seafood certification courses taken.