Gov. Janet Mills swears in Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Carl Wilson in Augusta on Tuesday, April 8. Wilson, of Alna, has served as the department’s interim commissioner since March 14. He succeeds retired Commissioner Patrick Keliher. (Courtesy photo)
After a unanimous confirmation by the Maine Senate, Alna’s Carl Wilson was sworn in as the commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources by Gov. Janet Mills on Tuesday, April 8.
In a phone interview Tuesday, April 15, Wilson said he is grateful for the opportunity, the department, and its staff.
“We’ve got a great group of committed people working at the department and committed constituents,” he said.
Wilson, who has worked with the department for over 25 years, has served as acting commissioner of the department since March 14. He succeeds Patrick Keliher, the longest-serving commissioner in the department’s history who is known for his advocacy and support for the state’s maritime industries and environment, according to a news release from the governor’s office on Feb. 18.
Keliher retired on March 14.
“It just felt like the right time to say, ‘Yes, I can try to help out and step up,’” said Wilson.
Mills announced her nomination of Wilson to replace Keliher on Feb. 26. The Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources unanimously recommended Wilson’s confirmation on April 3.
Wilson first joined the Maine Department of Marine Resources in 1999 as the agency’s lead lobster biologist, directing all lobster research and monitoring programs and overseeing the operation and maintenance of department research vessels and mapping systems.
Wilson received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1995 and his Master of Science degree in oceanography from the University of Maine in 1999.
Alna isn’t Wilson’s only tie to Lincoln County, as he did work for his graduate school studies at the Darling Marine Center in Walpole.
“Lincoln County is near and dear to my heart,” he said.
For the last decade, Wilson was director of the Maine Department of Marine Resources Bureau of Marine Science, which oversees the department’s overall fisheries research and monitoring efforts.
Wilson said his appointment as commissioner of the department is “a hard pivot” from directing the bureau of marine science, but that the opportunity is opening doors for him to learn more about the place he has worked at for over two decades.
“Almost on an hourly basis, you get to jump in deeper into what the department does,” he said. “It’s very wide, very diverse.”
According to maine.gov, Wilson was instrumental in establishing the Maine Department of Marine Resources Division of Marine Mammal Research, which is responsible for monitoring North Atlantic right whales to make sure federal regulators have the data needed to develop targeted regulations that minimize the impact on fishermen.
Under Wilson’s leadership, the bureau of marine sciences also reorganized in 2021 and 2022 to create two additional divisions: the division of biological monitoring and assessment and the division of ecology and the environment.
Additionally, Wilson led the renovation of the Maine State Aquarium in Boothbay Harbor and modernization of the department’s sea water laboratory to ensure the safe care and handling of animals held for display in the aquarium and for research by staff.
“Carl’s extensive experience and deep understanding of Maine’s marine industries make him exceptionally qualified to lead (the Maine Department of Marine Resources),” Mills said in an April 8 press release. “I look forward to working with him to support the Maine people who make their living on the water and the communities that depend on them.”
For more information about the Maine Department of Marine Resources, call the department’s main office at 624-6550, go to maine.gov/dmr, or find the department on Facebook.
