Niaz Dorry

Niaz Dorry is the coordinating director of the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA). For the past 20 years, she has been working on advancing the rights and ecological benefits of the small-scale fishing communities as a means of protecting global marine biodiversity.

Dorry moved to Gloucester, Massachusetts— the oldest settled fishing port in the U.S.—in 1994 when she decided to work on fisheries issues. At the time, she was an ocean and fisheries campaigner for Greenpeace. She took on fisheries issues following her work on environmental justice issues as a Greenpeace toxics campaigner, and has been hooked ever since. She has been working with small-scale, traditional, and indigenous fishing communities in the U.S. and from around the globe ever since, advancing the rights and ecological benefits of the small-scale fishing communities as a means of protecting global marine biodiversity. Time Magazine named Dorry as a Hero For The Planet for this work.

Her articles appear regularly in Fishermen’s Voice and SAMUDRA as well as a range of publications. Dorry’s work and approach have been noted in a number of books including Against the Tide, Deeper Shade of Green, The Spirit’s Terrain, Vanishing Species, The Great Gulf, Swimming in Circles, A Troublemaker’s Teaparty and The Doryman’s Reflection.

Niaz Dorry is a graduate of the Rockwood Leadership Institute’s “Leading From Inside Out” and the Institute for Nonprofit Practice’s Core Certificate Program. She serves on the board of the National Family Farm Coalition and Food Solutions New England’s Process Team.

Contact Niaz Dorry for speaking terms and dates.