Patrick Keliher, Maine's longest-serving commissioner, is leaving his post as chief of the Department of Marine Resources following high-profile tensions with the state's lobster industry.
Keliher first landed the DMR post in 2012 after replacing Norm Olsen, who stepped down amid uproar from Maine's lobster industry. Keliher was picked by Republican Gov. Paul LePage to succeed Olsen and he has remained in that position ever since, guiding the agency amid ongoing challenges to the state's heritage industry as it confronts climate change and accompanying regulatory hurdles.
The regulatory changes have often put Keliher in the position of trying to protect an industry that often argues that lobstermen are capable of regulating themselves.
In January, those tensions came to a head when some lobstermen called Keliher a sell-out and he responded with an expletive. The exchange took place as Keliher was conceding to the industry's opposition to a change that would have increased the size of catchable lobsters by a one-sixteenth of an inch.
He has since expressed frustration with what he calls some in the industry's short-term thinking instead of prioritizing protecting the fishery.
Keliher will retire March 14.
"After nearly 14 years of dealing with the challenges facing Maine’s marine resources it’s not the issues I remember most, it’s the people.” he said in a statement. “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. Through the good times and the bad, I have made lasting friendships up and down the coast."
He added, "I leave this job humbled by these friendships and by my extraordinarily talented staff who I was blessed to work with every day."
In an interview, Keliher, 58, said recent tensions with the industry were not a factor in his decision to leave. However, he acknowledged that the job requires balancing advocacy for the industry and regulating it.
"So we have to play both sides and that makes it tricky sometimes," he said.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who reappointed Keliher as DMR chief upon taking office in 2019, has not yet said who will replace him. The governor's press release announcing his departure included laudatory comments about his tenure from the lobster industry trade groups and all but one member of Maine's congressional delegation — Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden.
Golden had sided with the lobster industry over the gauge-limit rule that would have increased the size of catchable lobsters and led to the dustup in January between Keliher and some audience members.
