AIS Inc

A.I.S., Inc. is a nationwide company based in Marion, Massachusetts which provides accurate marine biological data to its customers. This data provides valuable information which is used by scientists and industry members to manage fisheries and marine environments. The founder and president, Arvidas Poshkus, founded this organization in 1988, after having built a career observing aboard foreign fishing vessels for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in the 1970’s. Since its inception, A.I.S. has grown from a small company of less than 10 people in 1990, to an established organization of about 100 employees including management personnel, professional observers, fisheries biologists, marine mammal experts and data specialists. The company has a well earned reputation for high integrity and sound management in the observer field. A.I.S. has been awarded various, highly competitive NMFS and other governmental and private industry observing contracts throughout its history. Beginning in 2001, NMFS awarded A.I.S. the Closed Area Scallop Observing contract. Subsequent contracts include the Northeast Fisheries Observer Program contract which covered fisheries from North Carolina to Maine. Recently, A.I.S. was awarded the North Pacific Groundfish Observer Program (NPGOP) contract and one of the Northeast At-Sea Monitoring contracts. Because of the continuous work with fishing gear research studies, the certification as an Industry Funded Scallop provider, and the privately contracted work with the Deep Water Horizon oil spill, A.I.S. has experienced observers throughout the US and Canada. A.I.S. Observers are deployed along the US East Coast from the Gulf of Maine to North Carolina as well as the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea.