ROCKLAND – The city’s new harbor master may feel as if he’s stepping back in time – but not that far.

City Manager Tom Hall said Wednesday that, after a four-month search, he has named Chad DeLima to the harbor master post left vacant after Jon Trumble left to take a position in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

DeLima has been employed as marine superintendent – essentially, the equivalent of harbor master, Hall said – in Provincetown, Mass., the busy tourist town at the easterly tip of Cape Cod.

Provincetown has a busy harbor, where recreational boating is outpacing the traditional commercial fishing uses of the waterfront, Hall said. The town has struggled with the pressures of waterfront development and increased use of the harbor, he said.

In the past few years, Rockland’s harbor has experienced a renaissance, and all signs point to more growth. Hall said the waterfront, once dominated by factories, now has “tremendous reuse potential,” as the industrial era makes way for a recreational, service economy.

Provincetown is “a mirror image of Rockland five years from now,” Hall said. “We’re going to have a lot of challenges.”

Rockland has 500 moorings in its harbor, while Provincetown has 600, in a 3-1, recreational-to-commercial fishing vessel split.

Provincetown also is host to high-speed ferries, which have been proposed for Rockland by the state Department of Transportation.

Hall chose DeLima over 27 other applicants, he said.

“I really labored over this decision more so than other personnel decisions,” the manager said, because he wanted the new harbor master to be able to stay on top of the pressures that are bound to come as the waterfront develops.

Hall said he retooled the job description to meet the changes.

The harbor master serves as a diplomat for the city, he said, meeting boaters “from all over the world” who are visiting Rockland. And the harbor master is also responsible for managing the use of the city’s waterfront park, which is increasing each year.

This summer, in addition to the annual Lobster Festival and Blues Festival, the park was host to the WoodenBoat annual show and the Atlantic Challenge boat contests. WoodenBoat plans to return next year, and the Camden-based Maine Boats and Harbors magazine also wants to have a show on Rockland’s waterfront.

DeLima will be paid $39,000 annually, Hall said, and will oversee a budget of $140,000.

The harbor master works with the city’s Harbor Management Commission, which reports to the City Council.

Hall praised the work of Assistant Harbor Master Pete Thibodeau, who worked hard this summer after Trumble left.

“He gave me his life this summer,” Hall said of Thibodeau. Thibodeau is expected to focus on redefining the city’s use of its fish pier, which had been leased out but is now without an operator.

DeLima has served as marine superintendent in Provincetown for the past 18 months, and as deputy harbor master there for the three years before that. DeLima also did a four-year stint in the U.S. Coast Guard, Hall said.