The search for a new general manager to run the Steamship Authority has surveyed close to 100 potential candidates, received 40 applications and identified five leading choices so far, executives with Faststream Recruitment said Friday.

“This won’t be the final number … but we are confident that we have five individuals under more detailed discussion,” said Jonathan Pearse, of the U.K.-based recruitment firm that is conducting the worldwide search for the ferry line.

“The role is well received. The opportunity is attractive,” Mr. Pearse told the search committee, a subgroup of Steamship Authority board and port council members, at an online meeting Friday afternoon.

While specializing in maritime recruitment, Faststream has widened its net to include the rail, bus and aviation industries, he said.

“We’re looking at operational and and strategic leaders. Usually they’re combined within a really broad range of organizations that relate well to the Steamship role,” Mr. Pearse said.

Both male and female candidates are on the current short list, Mr. Pearse said, and more applications are expected to come in as word spreads that the position is available.

The boat line hired Faststream in March to find a replacement for Robert Davis, who agreed last year to step down as general manager this fall.

Mr. Davis attends the search committee meetings, but will not take part in deliberations, committee chair James Malkin said Friday.

For the sake of candidates who may not want their current employers to know they are applying, the Steamship Authority’s initial screenings of the finalists will take place in executive sessions, which are closed to the public, Mr. Malkin said.

For the same reason, he said, the search committee will not include a community representative, which has been requested several times by members of the public.

“What we’re talking about is confidentiality, so that we do not scare away a potentially great candidate,” Mr. Malkin said.

Final interviews will take place in public session, he said.

During the public comment period Friday, Martha’s Vineyard resident Beth O’Connor pleaded with the committee to reconsider its make-up.

“For this person to have a chance on the other side, to have a chance of public acceptance and success … we feel that it is very important to have a member of the public on your search committee. We have begged,” Ms. O’Connor said.

Steamship Authority board and search committee member Robert Jones said the committee already represents the public.

“The members of the board are chosen as residents from the communities they serve. We are all members of the public. Each one of us [has] been appointed by our boards, and we are representatives of the boards, so the public is being served, and that’s according to the enabling legislation,” Mr. Jones said.

Martha’s Vineyard resident Margaret Hannemann disagreed that the public is adequately being served by the current leadership.

“You are a very insular group. You meet all the time, and you only hear each other’s opinions,” Ms. Hannemann said.

Mr. Pearse and Faststream executive Matthew Barwell, who also took part in Friday’s meeting, said they expect to have the first group of general management finalists ready for the search committee’s review at the end of July.

For the most part, he said, the candidates’ likely salaries would fall in the range of $200,000 to $300,000.