Ron Fithian

Ron Fithian was born and raised and has lived most of his life in Rock Hall, Maryland and is a graduate of Kent County High School.

Ron’s father was a waterman and Ron began working on the Bay before he was a teenager.

Ron was a Captain for over 30 years and harvested shellfish and finfish in the Bay during that time, employing a crew of several men.

Hurricane Agnes, changes in commercial regulations that increased the cost of doing business, the moratorium on the harvest of rockfish and Dermo and MSX led Ron to discontinue his commercial fishing business, although Ron still can be found on his boat out in the upper Chesapeake Bay.

Ron served the public as the Administrator of the Town of Rock Hall for 17 years until April of 2019.

Ron is serving in his fifth term (1998-2002 & 2006—present) as a County Commissioner of Kent County, Maryland.

Ron has served as a member of the Kent County Board of Health, the Board of License Commissioners, the Local Management Board for Children, Youth and Family Services, and the Public Landings and Facilities Board. Ron has served in various positions on the Board of Directors of the Upper Shore Regional Council.

Ron has always loved the Bay and the rural way of life supported by the agricultural and seafood industries in the DelMarVa region.

After observing decades of futility from initiatives lead by the government and NGOs in the restoration of the Bay, Ron became involved with the Clean Chesapeake Coalition in the hopes of fostering cost effective improvement to the health of the Bay. He now serves as the Chairman of that coalition. Ron has become involved with the DFA because he wants to restore a way of life that he knew and loved as a young man and wants to improve and preserve the commercial seafood industry in the DelMarVa region for future generations.