Rhode Island State Pilotage Commission

Jason E. McNamee, Ph.D., Chairperson

As Deputy Director and previously as Chief of the RI Department of Environmental Management’s (RIDEM) Marine Fisheries Division, Jason E McNamee has worked for over 20 years on environmental and fisheries matters. Before working for the Marine Fisheries Division, he worked for 2 years as an intern with RIDEM Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Freshwater Section as well as 2 years in the RIDEM’s Office of Water Resources. While with the Marine Division, Jason has served as the principle investigator for the Narragansett Bay Juvenile Finfish Seine Survey. He is also active in the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s process as the lead delegate for Rhode Island and as a member of numerous management boards, technical committees, and stock assessment sub-committees. Jason was appointed in 2013 to the New England Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee and served as chair of that committee for several years.

Jason graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology. His graduate work started at the University of Connecticut, where he graduated in 2006 with a Master of Science in Biological Oceanography. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography in their Biological Oceanography Doctoral program in 2018.

Capt. Vincent Kirby

Capt. Kirby is a RI, MA, and NY licensed Ship Pilot with an exceptional safety and performance record on the waters of Narragansett Bay and Southern New England. He holds unlimited federal and state pilotage licenses for the waters from Throggs Neck, NY to Provincetown, MA, and has safely piloted over 3,500 vessels on these waters over the past 20 years.

Capt. Kirby’s deep sea career included 13 years in deck officer positions from 3rd Mate to Master on a wide range of ships engaged in global commerce, including highly specialized 936 foot long, 95,000 ton Liquified Natural Gas Carriers in the Indonesian-Japanese natural gas trade, Containerships on U.S. to Northern Europe and Mediterranean trade routes, and Tankers circumnavigating the globe.

Concurrent with his seagoing and piloting activities, he has directed national pilot R&D initiatives and U.S. maritime security projects, instructed ship captains on advanced navigation techniques, participated in ship hydrodynamic panels, and advised numerous entities on safe ship channel design and port development projects.

He is graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY, a previous multiple U.S. National Singlehanded sailing champion, and coach of multiple collegiate All-American and national championship sailors. His lifelong boating and maritime career began sailing small boats in Newport Harbor as a youth.