BVI Youths Missing Marine Career Opportunities
Marine industry veteran Compton Wintz warns that many young Virgin Islanders are leaving school without the practical skills or experience charter companies require, shutting them out of well-paid marine jobs. He urged school-based training, two-year workplace placements and recognized certification so students can move into industry roles immediately after graduation.
Young Virgin Islanders risk missing out on steady, skilled work in the territory’s vital marine and charter sector because many leave school without the practical skills employers demand, marine industry veteran Compton Wintz told a recent career workshop. Speaking at an event hosted by Julian Willock and the Third District Committee, Wintz called for practical training to begin while students are still in school so they can gain experience with marine businesses before graduation. "You have to start this programme in the school," he said. "By the time you finish high school, you are already in a job." Wintz said companies that take students on for two years would have ample time to assess their abilities and determine whether they could become permanent staff.
He warned that applicants without recognised skills or prior experience typically must start in lower-paying roles and work their way up, earning as little as $10 to $11 an hour initially. He listed trades and services charter firms routinely need: mechanics, rigging, fibreglass work, electronics, refrigeration and air conditioning, customer service, inventory management, yacht cleaning, dinghy repair and dock operations.
Wintz emphasised persistence for young jobseekers, advising them to return to companies that initially say no and to accumulate certifications employers recognise. The BVI government has previously attempted to boost local participation in the marine sector. In 2019, Cabinet agreed that trained BVIslanders and Belongers should receive first preference for marine jobs and proposed up to $500,000 annually to subsidise certification courses.
In 2024, officials said they were considering expanded marine training through H. Wintz drew on three decades of industry experience. He said he began at The Moorings in 1986 or 1987, worked there for 32 years and later became operations manager for Sunsail before moving to Navigare Charters as country manager. "I started from the bottom.
And I'm up there," he told workshop participants. Wintz also recalled a former school-based programme that produced skilled mechanics and other marine professionals and asked pointedly what the 250 to 300 students who graduate high school each year are doing now. His message to young people was clear: learn the industry, earn recognised skills and pursue available opportunities rather than relying on others to secure employment.
Local training partnerships between schools, HLSCC and marine businesses — backed by government support for certification — could help more BVI residents access career pathways in a sector that remains central to the territory’s economy and tourism industry.
Primary source: BVI News