Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher calls on members of the audience during a public meeting in 2019 on proposed regulations to protect right whales. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher will retire from his post next month, the governor’s office announced Tuesday.

Keliher, who has held the job since 2012, is the longest-serving commissioner in the history of the Department of Marine Resources. He will step down March 14.

The announcement comes a little more than a month after Keliher clashed with lobstermen at a meeting regarding a now-abandoned attempt to increase the minimum size of lobsters caught in Maine, cursing at an attendee who accused him of selling out to out-of-state interests.

Keliher chose to retire “well in advance of the lobster gauge decision,” department spokesperson Jeff Nichols said of the meeting where the commissioner had a heated exchange with lobstermen who accused him of selling out to Canada and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Commissioner Keliher — Pat — has served this administration and the people of Maine with great distinction,” Gov. Janet Mills said in a written statement. “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.

“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,” Mills added.

Keliher said in a written statement that the issues facing Maine’s marine sector have not been easy to address and have led to many hard conversations over the last 14 years, but that he is grateful to all those who worked with him.

“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. I leave this job humbled by these friendships and by my extraordinarily talented staff who I was blessed to work with every day.”

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 the Department of Marine Resources’ Sea-Run Fisheries Bureau.

In 2019, as Mills put together her administration, industry groups lobbied in support of keeping Keliher, a Paul LePage appointee.

“The future success of Maine’s seafood industry depends on the continued strong leadership, stability, institutional knowledge and political capital that only Commissioner Keliher possesses,” industry leaders wrote in a letter to Mills at the time.

Members of Maine’s congressional delegation praised Keliher for his work advocating for Maine’s fisheries. Keliher’s “commitment and passion for the job are unmatched,” independent Sen. Angus King said in a written statement.

Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, said Keliher’s “expertise and advice were critical” to developing a 2022 plan to pause implementation of federal rules designed to protect whales that would have significantly hindered the state’s lobster industry.

Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said that while she and Keliher did not always agree on policy, he kept the industry’s best interests at heart.

“Commissioner Keliher guided the Maine lobster industry through some of its toughest times,” McCarron said. “I can’t think of a more challenging job than serving as Maine’s top fisheries regulator.”

Lobstermen gathered at an event hosted by the Department of Marine Resources in Jonesport on Tuesday weren’t entirely surprised, and some called his resignation bittersweet. Despite battles with Keliher over the years, many felt like it’s impossible for any marine resources commissioner to please everyone.

“I’m surprised it took him this long to flip out,” said Dean Faulkingham, captain of the Reef Creeper in Jonesport. “Pat was trying to do a good job and not everyone is going to be happy with him.”

James Smith, who’s fished for over 30 years, said he didn’t always agree with Keliher’s decisions but said the departing leader was one of the better commissioners during Smith’s time hauling traps.

Whether or not they are celebrating Keliher’s departure, lobstermen said they are now bracing for the impact of who will come next.

“I’m really worried we’re going to be worse off,” Smith said.

In 2014, President Barack Obama appointed Keliher the nonfederal commissioner of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization.

Mills 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 Senate.

Keliher could not be reached for an interview Tuesday.

Staff Writer Kay Neufeld contributed reporting.