KEITH NELDER is looking for a few skilled people. He and his wife Patricia make their living in a traditional Nova Scotia industry, for which one wouldn't expect a shortage of skilled labour.

But the province's boatbuilders are scrambling to find craftsmen to handle a growing volume of work building fishing boats and pleasure craft.

"At the moment we are looking for people," says Mr. Nelder, leaning against a large pleasure craft he is refitting in his boat shop at Big Pond, Cape Breton County.
He said the labour shortage is "drastic" and people in the business are turning down work because of it.

Mr. Nelder has four projects in the works and is busy all year. He suspects most boatbuilders in Nova Scotia are just as busy in an industry that generated $75 million in sales in 2001.

Mr. Nelder was born in the United Kingdom and educated in South Africa. He later moved to the Caribbean and has 30 years in the marine industry, 12 of them in Nova Scotia.

His business, Big Pond Boat Shop, operates under the company Big Pond Wood Concepts Ltd. Mrs. Nelder, also involved in boatbuilding, operates Cape Breton Lake Charters on Bras d'Or Lake in summer.

Mr. Nelder builds exclusively for the leisure market and uses a variety of material. Most of his boats, especially the larger ones, are based on a Nova Scotia fishing hull. He acquires the hull separately and then designs the superstructure to suit the customer's needs.

The northeastern coast of the United States is the main market for leisure boats. With quality Nova Scotia workmanship, competitive prices and a favourable currency exchange rate, there's huge potential.
But to be able to take full advantage of that potential, there must be a good supply of skilled labour.

One option is training those in "land" trades to work in the marine industry, said Mr. Nelder. One of his employees, cabinetmaker Donald Clements, is a good example. The Port Morien resident fished for 18 years until the groundfish moratorium. Under a federal program he was retrained in cabinetmaking at the Nova Scotia Community College in Sydney and eventually landed a job with the Nelders.

"It's interesting work and there is a lot to it," he said.

Mr. Nelder said more needs to be done to get younger people into boatbuilding, adding other countries have proven it can be done. "I think it is unfortunate there has been no focus apprenticeship-wise to attract young people to the industry.

"In Britain, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia there is a real push on to attract people from school. They have recognized apprenticeship courses which unfortunately we don't have as yet."

The Nova Scotia Boatbuilders Association is trying to make the industry more attractive to young people and establish training programs.

Executive director Tim Edwards said the association, which represents 30 boatbuilding companies and 42 support firms, has made progress in training and certification. For example, in January an instructor from the American Boat and Yacht Council offered a course in electrical standards.

The association has also developed its own standards for some trades but is looking beyond that since there's no place in the province to get boatbuilding training.
Over the next three months it will work with two consultants and community college staff to determine what's needed to develop curriculum that can be offered as electives in existing trades courses. For example, a marine electrician's course in the regular electrician's program or marine joinery as an elective in a cabinetmaking program.
"If we can get the community college behind this, which we hope, these electives could be offered as early as the fall," Mr. Edwards said.

The association has also made a start in attracting youth to boatbuilding by visiting schools.

Fixing the labour shortage is going to be a long-term project, Mr. Nelder said.
"We are not going to resolve it overnight but I think if we can't do something soon, it's going to be a shame and I think we are going to lose a lot of business."

Back to "News"
Webmaster