The Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust will host its first ever Meet the Fleet event this summer in Menemsha to showcase the Island’s working waterfront.

The trust formally announced the event last week at its first public meeting since December. Planned for August 6, the four-hour event is aimed at raising awareness of the Island commercial fishing industry, which has deep roots but faces an uncertain future with permits and other regulatory hurdles. Commercial fishing boats will be docked in Menemsha for the afternoon and fishermen will offer demonstrations in their trade.

Trust president John Keene is also working with Mystic Seaport to arrange a visit from the Roann, a 1947 eastern-rig dragger that used to fish out of Vineyard Haven and is now among the last of her kind.

“That was my favorite boat growing up,” Mr. Keene said, recalling its frequent visits to Menemsha when it was used for swordfishing. The vessel accompanied the Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaling ship in the world, on her historic voyage to New England ports (including Vineyard Haven) last summer. Perhaps coincidentally, the August event falls on the one-year anniversary of the Morgan’s return to Mystic.

More intentionally, the timing of the event will take advantage of the summer crowds at Menemsha Harbor. “It’s so packed down there, it’s not like no one is going to come,” Mr. Keene said. The idea is to keep things simple for the first year and then decide whether to expand for next year.

“We hope to just educate the public — just the struggles and the reasons why the fisheries are in the state they are in,” Mr. Keene said. “And then the positive side to what our group is trying to do.” He hoped the event would allow people to meet the fisherman “and get a personal side to the whole industry.”

Since regrouping last fall, the trust has focused on establishing a permit bank that would support Island fishermen. Mr. Keene said the goal is still to raise public awareness and to gauge the interest of local fishermen in pursuing the permit bank idea. The trust recently acquired 501c3 status and received its first donation, a $100 check from the Barnacle Club in Vineyard Haven.

Many fishermen consider the state and federal permitting process to be a major burden to the type of small-scale commercial fishing that exists on the Vineyard. In simple terms, the permit bank would subsidize commercial fishermen by allowing them to lease rather than own fishing permits or quotas. For small fishermen it can be cost prohibitive to buy existing permits for areas that are closed to new permits. Just how the permit bank program would work is still unclear.

The idea has been slow to develop on the Vineyard, but with help from The Nature Conservancy and other groups, the trust hopes to make significant progress this year.

“We have come a long way,” Mr. Keene said.

The Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust’s meet the fleet event will be Thursday, August 6, from 3 to 7 p.m. at Menemsha Harbor.