Recruitment to the fishing industry
For generations, the countries of the North Atlantic have been able to capitalise on the sea, but recruiting young people to work in maritime industries has become increasingly difficult. This issue is something that many, if not all, coastal communities in the North Atlantic can identify with. For large and small vessels alike, the result is a shortage of crew members.
Trøndelag, in Norway, sought to address the issue by making young people aware of the job opportunities in fishing and harvesting. The work started at the county level, but, in 2020, Trøndelag officials, together with partners from Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland and coastal Norway, received a grantfrom NORA for a North Atlantic-wide project that sought to give a better understanding of the industry’s needs, as well as the benefits of an improved employment outlook.
The point of working together was to learn ways to inspire young people to choose a maritime career. A pilot project, the work opened the doors to opportunities, while its wide range of partners who were comfortable working with each other laid the foundation for an expanded initiative.
“One of the most important things we did during the project was to establish a partnership,” Leif Harald Hanssen, the project manager,said. “Being able to establish a good partnership with people who have the same challenges and interests you do, and who you trustand have confidence in, was extremely important. And then I think perhaps the usefulness of what we have talked about—and being able to tell the good stories, showcase them, and use them in recruitment work—has been of great value. The big challenge now is to find out how to tell these stories, and on which channels, so that young people are inspired to choose a maritime career over something else.”
Now known by the name Marine Recruitment NORA (MAREC NORA), the project has expanded to include recruitment across maritime industries. The sea is full of opportunities, and the project’s scope reflectsthat, involving recruitment to jobs in fishing and food production, as well as energy production and transport. The goal is to connect people with all manner of maritime jobs, and to highlight the breadth of career paths in the blue economy.
Today, MAREC NORA is able to use its well-established partnerships to reach a wider audience and to use compelling stories as part of its recruitment efforts, including asking students in Trøndelag to make adverts that promote maritime industries.
