The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) announced the Employee and Manager of the Year awards during its recent annual meeting on Burnt Island in Boothbay Harbor.

Amanda Ellis, PhD, who was promoted to Director of DMR’s Aquaculture Division in April, received the Manager of the Year honor. Ellis oversees a staff of eight employees who are responsible for administering the leasing and licensing of aquaculture sites in Maine’s coastal waters as well as the licensing of land-based aquaculture facilities.

“She has done a fantastic job,” stated DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher during the award ceremony. “She has the respect of not only her employees but also of the aquaculture industry. I can’t say enough good stuff about Amanda Ellis.”

DMR Scientist Rebecca Peters was recognized as Employee of the Year. Peters oversees the Maine-New Hampshire Trawl Survey, which is performed along the coast of Maine and New Hampshire and provides critically important data for stock assessments of multiple commercial species including groundfish and lobster. “The work of the Maine-New Hampshire Trawl Survey is pivotal not only for Maine but all of New England,” said Keliher.

“She works in incredibly tough conditions in the spring and the fall,” said Keliher. “The work that she does is not always seen, but the importance is certainly understood every day whether we’re dealing with a Council (New England Fisheries Management Council) issue or a Commission (Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commissioner) issue, because we’re referencing the trawl survey all the time.”