The longest-serving commissioner in DMR history, Patrick Keliher, leaves a legacy of powerful advocacy and support for Maine's marine industries and environment.
Governor Janet Mills today announced that Patrick Keliher, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), will retire from his position on March 14, 2025.
Keliher is the longest-serving commissioner in DMR history. He was re-appointed by Governor Mills as DMR Commissioner in 2019 after serving in the position since 2012. Over his tenure, Keliher has earned a reputation as a strong and influential voice for the protection of Maine's marine resources and environment and a powerful advocate for the Maine industries, communities, and people that depend on them.
Under Keliher's leadership, DMR worked to strengthen Maine's commercial and recreational fisheries and aquaculture industry through responsible management and industry partnerships. He worked closely with Maine's Federal delegation and State lawmakers to protect Maine's fisheries and marine environment and expand investments to restore fish passage and marine habitats. In recent years, he led State efforts to help Maine's marine industries recover from the pandemic and rebuild working waterfronts after devastating winter storms last year.
"Commissioner Keliher -- Pat -- has served this Administration and the people of Maine with great distinction. Under his leadership, he tackled many significant challenges to Maine's commercial fisheries and marine industries, while leading an agency that served its many communities and constituencies with honesty and respect," said Governor Mills. "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. I will miss his leadership in my Cabinet and wish him well in his retirement. A native of Gardiner, Pat is also an avid outdoorsman. Now he will have more time for training bird dogs, flyfishing, hunting, and most important, spending time with his family."
Commissioner Keliher left the public with the comment, "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. 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. This work and the success of the DMR was made possible only through the hard work and dedication of our employees. I leave this job humbled by these friendships and by my extraordinarily talented staff who I was blessed to work with every day."
Other leaders in the fishing community left Keliher well wishes. Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA), said, "I can't think of a more challenging job than serving as Maine's top fisheries regulator. Commissioner Keliher guided the Maine lobster industry through some of its toughest times. 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.”
"Very few people understand the level of dedication, hard work, and personal sacrifice Commissioner Keliher has given to this state," said Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association. "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. We have been lucky to have him, and he will be sorely missed."
More about Keliher’s time as commissioner
During his tenure, Commissioner Keliher served as chair of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), as well as ASMFC's Lobster Management Board; as a member of the New England Fisheries Management Councill; as a member of the Board of the Finance Authority of Maine; and as Chair of the Land's for Maine's Future program.
In 2014, President Obama appointed him the non-federal Commissioner of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization. That same year the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center honored him with a Distinguished Maine Policy Fellowship for his extensive work in marine resources policy development.
Prior to serving as Commissioner, Keliher worked as a registered Maine hunting guide and charter boat captain. He also 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.
The Governor will name an Acting Commissioner for the Department before his 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.
