Marine trade associations: Anchors to windward

The June 4 editions of U.S. daily newspapers covered what has come to be known as “The Dismal Jobs Report” from the Bureau of Statistics. Bloomberg reported that the percentage of full-time workers fell for the first time in three years, and, the business-and-financial-information giant reported, “The rate of growth of temporary employment decelerated to 0.6 percent year over year, its lowest level since 2010.”

The Great Recession of 2007-09 still devastates recent college graduates, many of whom have been “idled” by the economy: In less euphemistic terms, too many recent grads are unemployed – 14.9 percent, compared with 9.6 percent in 2007 before the start of the recession, “Politico” reports. “Welcome to your new reality, college grads,” politico.com proclaims.

Well, not so fast: Elements of the New England marine industry are passionately proactive in helping its member businesses thrive, grow, and create jobs in a struggling economy. We are talking about the Maine Marine Trades Association (mainemarinetrades.com), New Hampshire Marine Trades Association (goboatingnh.com), Massachusetts Marine Trade Association (boatma.com), Rhode Island Marine Trades Association (RIMTA.org), Connecticut Marine Trades Association (ctmarinetrades.org), and Cape Cod Marine Trades Association (boatcapecod.org).

We spoke with Todd Walker, co-owner of Nauset Marine, in Orleans, Mass., and board member of the Cape Cod Marine Trades Association, an organization of nearly 100 marine-related businesses. We asked Todd how their organization energizes the local industry. “Our main mission has been to grow boating on Cape Cod,” he says. “We determined that the best way to accomplish this is to improve members’ businesses, then unify these business as a group. The theory is, if we do a good job at this, it’ll lead to a stronger industry.”

CCMTA was established the better part of a half-century ago. In its early years, it was an association of boat dealers that helped Cape retailers address the challenges of a burgeoning marine industry. Over time, CCMTA morphed into a group dedicated to nurturing and expanding the sport and recreation of boating on the Cape, thus energizing the business end of equation.
“And then we went one step further,” Todd says. “Many years ago, we started our ‘Toolship’ scholarship program, in which we offered, to promising tech-school students, monetary rewards with which to buy tools. Candidates came from the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School, in Harwich, and the Upper Cape Regional Technical High School, in Bourne.”

Perhaps it was the clean, invigorating salt air of the Cape, but CCMTA still couldn’t sit back and relax with its already considerable accomplishments. About five years ago, the group had an epiphany: act as a catalyst for generating a steady supply of marine workers to staff a growing local industry. “We decided to further support tech-school students interested in entering the business,” Todd says. “We were facing the usual scenario of an aging workforce, and it was getting harder and harder to find young help. At that point, we decided we’d support individual graduates of the technical high schools who wished to enter our industry. We recognized that they were the future of it.”

Today, CCMTA offers two types of scholarships: 1. monetary scholarships to further tech-school educations, or to attend a college, like Mass Maritime, in which studies focus on marine-related curricula or the marine industry; 2. significant Toolship awards, in lieu of college scholarships, for students who wish to go straight into the industry from high school.

Visit the websites of any of New England’s marine-trades organizations, and you’ll sense an energy, a vitality, an optimism, a feeling of opportunity, and a spirit of teamwork that exudes purpose and productivity. You’ll also find links to programs for boatbuilding, internships, pre-apprenticeship training, employment opportunities, membership contact details, boat access and ramp locations, tide and weather data, boating-safety info, and general skinny – including regulations – on boating in the respective states.

No, all is not gloom and doom in the greater economic picture. And it certainly isn’t along the New England waterfronts, where close-knit groups strive to get more of us out on the water – and more of us educated for, and employed in, a remarkable and vital industry.

We know how truly special this business is: It’s kept this happy mariner afloat for 55 years.