Recently, Prof. Mary was named a member of the Fisheries Expert Group (FEG) of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). For the first time in its history, a Brazilian and Latin American member is part of the group, whose mission is to promote the sustainable development of fisheries and the conservation of marine ecosystems, inform fisheries policies and related conservation strategies, propose management methods and tools and to seek to establish a link between communities of fisheries and biodiversity experts.

The Fisheries Specialist Group (IUCN / CEM / FEG) was created during the 2008 Barcelona Congress, to meet the need for specialists focused on ecosystems with competence in marine fisheries within the Commission of Ecosystem Management. The FEG is made up of fisheries experts from around the world with substantial knowledge of the operational, socioeconomic and ecosystem approach issues that affect fisheries.