In December 2011, the National Marine Manufacturers Association hosted a two-day event to focus on the future of the recreational boating industry.
“We had just come out of the Great Recession and that was the first time I became aware that there was going to be a significant labor shortage, particularly for our skilled workers,” George Harris, president/CEO of the Northwest Marine Trades Association in Seattle, Wash., told Trade Only Today.
Some of the data revealed during the event was that the baby boomer phenomena was going to have a twofold impact on recreational boating. Calling folks born between 1946 and 1964, “the greatest generation to recreational boating,” Harris explained that they were the ones buying and using boats and those who made up most marine technicians and service providers.
When Harris returned to his home base of Seattle, Wash., he started looking at ways to get ahead of the workforce issues that the recreational boating industry would likely be facing. An organization in Washington called the Manufacturing Industry Council was contacted by aircraft industry giant Boeing to develop an aviation-based skilled trades curriculum for local high schools.
About a year into the development of the aviation shop classes, the MIC contacted Harris about developing a similar curriculum for the marine industry. A couple years later, Core Plus Maritime was developed and the NMTA decided to get behind the company that offers high-school students a chance to learn about careers in the industry.
“There are some strong programs in the Northwest and our decision 10 years ago was to get behind Core Plus Maritime,” Harris explained. One of the reasons NMTA chose Core Maritime is that the training is for high school students. “There was a need for getting to these young people early,” he added.
More recently, the NMTA board met and decided to continue backing Core Plus Maritime. In 2023, there were 1,500 students in the Core Plus Maritime program at 26 schools in Washington. For 2024, the NMTA has a goal of placing 25 Core Plus students in full-time or seasonal jobs or internships with NMTA members by June 30.
Core Plus is holding a career showcase April 25 in south King County that is expected to draw more than 1,000 students and more than 100 employers.
Other opportunities for training in the recreational boating industry in Washington include the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend, the Skagit Valley Marine Technical Center for Marine Manufacturing and Technology in Anacortes and the Northwest School for Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock. The latter is a certified training facility for Suzuki outboards so dealers in the Pacific Northwest send their technicians to stay current.
While Boeing has 32 employees in human resources, NMTA relies on its members to go to events like job fairs to talk to students about opportunities in the recreational boating industry. “We’re asking our members to go to these events and plant some seeds with these kids,” Harris said.
