More than $20 million was raised for the campaign against Cape Wind before Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved the wind farm project last week.

And it has all been spent, as Audra Parker, the president and chief executive officer of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, told people this week while doing the rounds on the Vineyard trying to persuade them to dip into their pockets to fund legal action against the federal government.

Taking Cape Wind to the courts, through as many actions on as many fronts as possible, is the Alliance strategy for the next round of its nine-year fight to stop 130 wind turbines from being built on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound.

And so this week was about persuading, coordinating and strategizing with the various parties who might take action — Ms. Parker said to 10 to 15 of them.

Sometimes it was an easy sell, as when she met with the Wampanoag tribe on Wednesday. One of those present, Buddy Vanderhoop, announced afterwards: “We’re suing everyone. We’re on the bandwagon big time.”

Other times it was not so straightforward, as when she attended a strategy meeting with the Martha’s Vineyard/ Dukes County Fishermen’s Association on Wednesday night.

The fishermen’s association was one of the organizations the Alliance had claimed definitely would file a lawsuit to stop Cape Wind.

An Alliance press release issued the day of Secretary Salazar’s decision was quite specific. “The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, along with the Martha’s Vineyard/Duke’s County Fishermen’s Association, will also file suit against the federal Minerals Management Service for violations under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act,” the press release said.

But things were not nearly so specific at Wednesday night’s meeting in the county administration building this week. While the dozen or so fishermen present agreed they would like to sue, it was not clear whether they had the money to do it, and whether they would do it independently, as part of a group, or as a party to an Alliance complaint. Nor was it decided which federal agency they would sue, and on what grounds.

All of that was vague. What was clear, however, was the legal strategy of the Alliance, which is to make the opposition to Cape Wind appear as broad-based as possible.

Ms. Parker was quite up front in saying the strategy was to get as many actions as possible started, “to maximize their impact,” even if the organizations starting them could not afford to follow through.

She anticipated either the courts or the organizations themselves would subsequently consolidate the actions, at which point the Alliance would carry the ball.

She offered legal assistance to the fishermen, and even suggested that if the association could not afford the lawyers to prepare the lawsuit, the Alliance could possibly have their attorneys do it for them.

But the fishermen had to make some decisions. She took them through various options.

First, the potential legal issues on which they might sue. Would an action focus on matters of navigation, public safety or the environment, for example?

Then, whom to sue. The group might target the Department of the Interior, the Army Corps of Engineers, or even the Coast Guard — although Ms. Parker said it seemed people were not keen to sue the Coast Guard.

Then there was the matter of finding a lawyer with expertise relevant to the specific issues.

She offered help with legal research, which prompted the threshold question from one of the fishermen: “How much money have we got?”

The answer: about $3,000 to $5,000.

And how much would it cost to mount an action against the Department of the Interior over fisheries?

About $20,000, Ms. Parker said.

The fishermen briefly discussed ways of raising money. One of their members, Jonathan Mayhew, said he would talk with a lawyer who had acted for him on fisheries issues before, to seek advice.

Another member, Buddy Vanderhoop, said the association should support the Alliance lawsuit because “we don’t have the funds to do it on our own.”

Ms. Parker said they could join with other groups, like the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership.

She wondered if the towns would contribute money. Tristan Israel, a Tisbury selectman, said no. What about the county? Mr. Israel, also a county commissioner, said it was at least worth discussing.

Ms. Parker stressed the importance of delaying tactics. She said Cape Wind developers were “very motivated” to begin work on the project this year and to finish by 2012, in order to be eligible for $500 to $600 million in federal stimulus funds.

She noted also that while Gov. Deval Patrick is a strong proponent of the development, other candidates for the office were not (Mr. Patrick is up for re-election this year).

“If the political climate changes and Cape Wind does not have stimulus funds, we’ll be operating on a very different playing field,” Ms. Parker said.

But Mr. Israel also suggested the group should consider its actions if the project could not be stopped. He said they should put in some lobbying work on local representatives about mitigation of the economic losses to the fishermen.

As much as he hoped Cape Wind will not be built, Mr. Israel said he was aware that the record of lawsuits in opposition to Cape Wind is not good. Another action challenging the state approvals process was dismissed last week, giving them a record of none for 12.

But the fishermen at the meeting were nonetheless prepared, as Mr. Israel put it, to keep tilting at windmills. They voted to sue.

Exactly whom they will sue, and over exactly what, is to be decided at another meeting, yet to be fixed.

The fishermen did take one decisive action, though. They voted to contribute $100 to the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

“At least that might pay Audra’s travel expenses,” someone noted.