YORK – Patrice Farrey is the new executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, replacing Patten D. White, who has served as director of the organization for the last 12 years.

MLA is the largest commercial fishing organization on the East Coast and has 1,200 members from Eastport to Kittery.

David Cousins, president of MLA and a South Thomaston lobsterman, said White has done a great job, but the organization is “in good hands” with Farrey.

“Pat’s done a great job and is really good at bringing groups together,” Cousins said. “Patrice will bring us to a new level of organization.” Cousins said Farrey has served as an associate director of MLA for the past two years and will continue to run the day-to-day business and serve as the industry liaison on zone, state and regional management and policy issues.

White will continue to serve MLA as chief executive officer and will retain his positions as a commissioner with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the Pew Oceans Commission and a member of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team.

White said Farrey’s record with MLA speaks for itself.

“Patrice is personable and enthusiastic and a quick study,” White said. “She is willing and able to fulfill all the requirements of the executive director and more.”

Farrey said she’s honored to serve the lobster industry and looks forward to helping the organization grow.

“I will continue to expand the MLA’s education and outreach to the industry, promote collaborative research and work to maintain access and opportunity to fisheries so future generations can choose fishing as a profession,” Farrey said.

Farrey is a graduate of the University of Maine and has worked with the New England Aquarium, the Marine Environmental Research Institute, the Hancock and Washington County planning commissions and the Maine Coastal Program.

She currently serves on the board of directors of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System and the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance.

Farrey also conducts sea sampling for the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

MLA was founded in 1954 and initiated many of the conservation techniques that are now mandated throughout the range of lobster resource from Maine to North Carolina.

Key among those techniques is v-notching the tail of egg-bearing female lobsters and returning them to the sea to reproduce, strict limits on the sale of lobsters caught by draggers and a maximum size gauge to further protect lobster broodstock.

White said MLA has always worked for common-sense solutions.

“Sometimes we have to compromise,” he said. “We realize that the solutions don’t always please everyone, but we aim to ensure that our members’ voices are heard on important topics.”