Minister to Coastal
Communities & Fisheries

Rev. Ted Hoskins fills a very special role for the Mission. An ordained minister who served as the Minister on the Sunbeam for many years, Ted is now the Minister to Coastal Communities and Fisheries.

Ted's work focuses on fisheries. Stonington Fisheries Alliance, Penobscot East Resource Center, Saltwater Network, Cobscook Bay Resource Center, Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance and the Maine State Lobster Advisory Council are all served by him. Most significant, is the Downeast Groundfish Initiative, which he co-chairs with Jim Wilson of the University of Maine. This initiative is a serious attempt to bring real change to fishery management in the North Atlantic Ocean. They seek an ecosystem approach to area management for groundfish using community-based governance structures in new paradigms of co-management with state, regional and federal entities.

Ted has been quite successful in developing effective collaborative partnerships with The Nature Conservancy, The Island Institute, and Coastal Enterprises Incorporated. At the same time he has worked to assure that a single voice is carried forward toward the New England Fisheries Management Council from varied perspectives of the State (inshore/offshore) NAMA (Gulf of Maine Conservation and Stewardship Plan) and our own Downeast Groundfish Initiative (a pilot project in community-based governance) so that there are no competing plans and visions.