Maine’s fisheries enforcement agency has a new chief overseeing a staff of 52 officers who make sure the state’s commercial fisheries laws are being followed.
Jay Carroll, a native of Mount Desert Island, has been a lieutenant with Marine Patrol since 2014 and has served with the agency since 1996. He took over Monday as colonel of the Marine Patrol.
The Marine Patrol, part of the state Department of Marine Resources, is charged with enforcing the state’s fisheries laws, which range from restrictions on how lobster gear is configured to catch limits on the state’s lucrative baby eels, among many others. The agency’s roots date back 152 years, when two men were appointed to conserve fisheries in Maine, according to information posted on the DMR website.
Carroll will take over as head of Marine Patrol from Col. Jon Cornish, who has held the position since 2015, when Joe Fessenden retired. Cornish, who has been with Marine Patrol since 1985, officially retires Friday, according to a statement from the marine resources department.
As lieutenant, Carroll has overseen Marine Patrol operations in its Second Division, between Searsport and the Canadian border. Prior to becoming a lieutenant, Carroll served for 13 years as a sergeant in Hancock and Washington counties, one year as captain of a Marine Patrol vessel in Knox County, and four years as an officer in the Port Clyde patrol area.
Carroll has had connections to the Marine Patrol throughout his life, according to DMR officials. Three relatives — his father, Jim, his uncle John Carroll and cousin Richard LaHaye Jr. — also served as lieutenants with the agency. His cousin Tim Carroll, currently the elected sheriff of Knox County, also served in the Marine Patrol.
Jay Carroll began his career in law enforcement in 1994 as a reserve officer in the Bar Harbor Police Department. He then served as a deputy with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office until he joined the Marine Patrol in 1996.
Carroll is a 1988 graduate of Mount Desert Island High School and a 2012 inductee into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, according to the Mount Desert Islander newspaper.
