Commissioner of Maine Department of Marine Resources set to retire

Photo / Courtesy Department of Marine Resources Patrick Keliher will retire next month after 14 years as longest-serving commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources.

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By Laurie Schreiber

The longest-serving commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources said he would retire next month after 14 years on the job.

"The issues facing the marine sector are ones not easily solved, which means rolling up your sleeves and having tough conversations about how people make a living on the water and about what Maine has to offer,” said Patrick Keliher, who was appointed to the position in 2012.

Keliher said that, across a career dealing with challenges facing Maine's marine resources, it wouldn’t be the issues he remembers most, but the people.

“Through the good times and the bad, I have made lasting friendships up and down the coast,” he said. “This work and the success of the DMR was made possible only through the hard work and dedication of our employees.”

Gov. Janet Mill announced on Tuesday that Keliher will retire on March 14.

Mills said she would name an acting commissioner before Keliher’s departure, if a permanent commissioner is not yet nominated. Any candidate for commissioner will be subject to a hearing before the Legislature's Marine Resources Committee and confirmation by the Maine State Senate.

Facing challenges

Among the challenges over the years, those facing the lobster industry stand out. Maine's highest value fishery, and the nation’s largest lobster fishery, has been in nonstop flux over the years as fishermen grapple with regulatory and environmental changes that affect how they fish and resource declines. Economic shocks included the pandemic.

Keliher has been at the forefront in negotiations over the issues at the local, state and federal level.

While he has had his critics, one lobsterman said Keliher would listen to concerns.

"Pat has always been able to meet fishermen on their own terms, listen to what they have to say, and find a way forward,” said David Cousens, a South Thomaston lobsterman and former president of the Maine Lobstermen's Association.

Cousens noted that the fishery is made up of over 5,000 individuals, “each with their own experiences and perspective.”

Before serving as commissioner, Keliher worked as a registered Maine hunting guide and charter boat captain, served as executive director of the Coastal Conservation Association of Maine, as executive director of the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission and as director of DMR's Sea-Run Fisheries Bureau.

Long view

Cousens noted that Keliher’s experience stood him in good stead, particularly in an industry that can be fractious. Keliher took the long view, he said.

“He understands the culture of the fishery and its importance to both individual families and communities all along the coast,” he said. “No one knows better than me that you'll never get everyone to agree, so you have to be guided by what will protect and sustain this resource for future generations.”

'Challenging job'

During Keliher’s tenure, the value paid to Maine’s lobstermen increased by over $120 million.

"I can't think of a more challenging job than serving as Maine's top fisheries regulator," said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen's Association. "Though we didn't always agree, he made the effort to listen, engage in conversation and always had the industry's best interests at heart.”

That was evident in 2022, she said, when the DMR backed the association’s court case against the National Marine Fisheries Service to challenge whale regulations that the association said that have “decimated” the industry.

That was followed by a successful effort, with Maine's congressional delegation, to secure a six-year pause on federal whale regulations and to provide $26 million in federal funds for a DMR marine mammal research and assessment team to gather needed data on the presence of whales in the Gulf of Maine.

“Our collaboration also helped secure a significant law in Congress that protected Maine's lobster industry from being shut down by federal whale rules,” said McCarron.

Scallops and seaweed

The wintertime scallop fishery increased in value by $6 million at the dock in 2023 compared with 2012 and landings more than doubled during that time as new management measures were implemented such as rotational closures and a license lottery launched in 2019.

The aquaculture sector has grown during Keliher’s tenure, with slow but steady growth over the past 20 years at 2% to 2.5% per year in shellfish and seaweed farming and in value-added product development in the seaweed sector — possibly the only marine resource that’s growing at all, compared with other sectors that are flat or contracting — the development of workforce training programs.

"His tireless determination to professionally represent the interests of our state's public resources and working waterfront communities established the highest standards of public service,” said Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association.

Elvers and menhaden

His tenure also included:

Overseeing implementation of the state's first quota system for Maine’s lucrative elver fishery, thus helping to protect the resource.
Achieving an increase in the fishing quota for menhaden, a bait used by lobster harvesters, from 2 million pounds to more than 24 million pounds.
Upgrading marine resource enforcement patrol vessels.
Securing funding and partnerships with organizations and communities to restore habitats and fish passage.
As chair of the Land for Maine's Future board for the past decade, overseeing the administration of funding for the protection of working waterfront and other properties. In 2024, working with the Department of Transportation to administer $21.2 million in grants from the state’s Working Waterfront Resilience Grant Program to help 68 wharf and pier owners rebuild from damage caused by that year’s January storms.

"Maine's commercial fisheries and seafood industries, our marine environment, our working waterfronts, and our coastal communities are better today because of Pat's relentless advocacy for Maine,” said Mills.

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