Sam Belknap New MLA/MLCA Development Director
Sam Belknap joined the Maine Lobstermen’s Association this fall as the organization’s new development director. Belknap, 44, most recently worked at the Island Institute in Rockland as director of the Institute’s Center for Marine Economy.
Belknap grew up on the Pemaquid peninsula. His grandfather and great-grandfather were local doctors who worked at Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta. Back in the 1950s his grandfather purchased a fishing wharf in Round Pond and, when he retired as a doctor, turned his hand to lobstering. When Belknap’s father decided to step back from his job as an insurance agent, he too went into lobstering.
When it came time to go to college, Belknap took a different course. “I went cross country for a few years,” he explained. “I started at the University of Maine later, as a non-traditional student.”
At college Belknap was drawn to the fields of anthropology and environmental studies. “I was really interested in how the environment impacts culture,” he said. He graduated in 2004 with a degree in anthropology and then returned to UMaine for a Master of Science degree in climate change and anthropology.
“My office was just down the hall from Jim Acheson’s. He really spurred my love and focus on the Maine lobster fishery, right here in my own backyard,” Belknap said.
Acheson, who passed away in 2022, was a longtime professor in UMaine’s anthropology department and in its School of Marine Sciences. He was well-known for his book The Lobster Gangs of Maine. Belknap received another Master’s degree in 2015 in anthropology and environmental policy.
Eventually Belknap and his wife moved back to the midcoast area where he became executive director of the Herring Gut Coastal Science Center in Port Clyde. After two years at the Center he took time off to go lobstering with his father before taking his position with the Island Institute.
“My job there was primarily community development work, finding ways to help communities face challenges. Fishing communities have a can-do attitude, but they can get hit by big issues, such as sea level rise. They may need help. I saw it as an opportunity to support the communities that I was raised in,” Belknap said.
At the MLA, Belknap’s responsibilities are focused on strengthening the MLA and its sister organization, the Maine Lobster Community Alliance, in multiple ways. It seems a natural fit to Belknap.
“I like to build things. I like to build teams and bring people together to make meaningful change. The MLA has had a great influence on the success of the lobster fishery. I want to help it have the resources to continue the importance it has now and amplify it in the future.”
Belknap, his wife and their two sons live in Damariscotta. “Yes, I guess I’ve come full circle. But I have learned a heck of a lot along the way,” Belknap laughed.
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