The goal of the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute (MFI) is to achieve educational and research success in the interdisciplinary sciences as related to the interactions between marine organisms and marine environments, through cooperative research with the fishing industry of New England.

The focus of the MFI continues to be on application-oriented programs that go beyond short-term solutions. Through research, the MFI seeks to understand and answer these and other key questions:

• What is the distribution and abundance of fish?
• How do fish and other species live in the ecosystem?
• What species will be caught as by-catch?
• What is the effect of fishing on the marine environment?
• How can we best balance the health of a fishery resource with the health of active commercial and recreational fisheries?

The MFI envisions being a leading educational and research institute that trains new scientists to examine the questions of stock assessment and ecosystem management using new technologies and insights, in combination with a strong background in the history of fisheries science.

This training, along with the experience of working in one of the top fishing ports of the United States, prepares these scientists to address the ever changing effects of human impacts on the marine environments.