Clatsop Community College
1653 Jerome, Astoria OR 97103
For immediate release
Contact: Sheila Ruhland (503) 338-2440

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Clatsop Community College holds focus groups to address workforce training needs in the region’s marine industries

In an effort to gain insight as to how Clatsop Community College can help develop the workforce in the Lower Columbia region’s maritime fields, college leaders invited representatives from a variety of local marine-related businesses to a series of focus groups aimed at discussing what kind of training they would like to see for individuals entering those fields.

The focus groups were funded by a grant from the Rural Colleges Strategic Career Pathways Initiative. The college invited representatives from a variety of businesses that fall into the category of “marine industries” to attend a series of focus group sessions held throughout the week. Represented fields within the industry varied greatly, from the US Army Corps of Engineers Dredging Operations, which require highly skilled workers with very specific technical training, to the seasonal canning industry, who have a hard time finding workers with very basic math and language skills. Also included were representatives from the Port of Astoria, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, several area fisheries, seafood processing plants, marine suppliers, surveyors, mechanics and welders, labor consultants, biologists and many others.

Despite the variety of marine related careers that was brought to the table throughout the conversations, one common point emerged from all of the representatives during these discussions: that there isn’t a pool of qualified workers available locally to fill the various positions.

“The basis for the Pathways grant was to do just this—identify the marine related careers and address the training and education needed to have a pool of qualified workers in this region,” said CCC Vice President of Instruction and Grant Coordinator Dr. Sheila Ruhland. “More importantly, this process has started to build relationships with our local employers. The college will review current programs and courses and identify new courses that need to be developed along with options to deliver these courses, on site at businesses.”

Throughout the week, many important voices emerged among the various industry representatives as to what the college could offer to help build their individual workforces.
“We lose a lot of boat traffic here just because we are missing workers in a few trades,” said Astoria Harbormaster Ken Smith. “It comes down to technicians, you know, and that’s hard to come by here. There’s not the education for the technical aspect.”
Steve Therberge of the OSU Sea Grant Extension expressed his concern for the workforce training needs of the maritime fishing industry.
“It’s becoming a totally different industry,” he said. “In the old days it used to be just about catching fish. Now it’s less fishing and more business management. There are things I’d like to see happen—I’d like to see the industry more involved in management— [workers] need to make good assessments to make good management decisions.”
Focus group attendee John Deschner, who hires for dredging operations for the US Corps of Engineers, expressed his industry’s trouble in finding workers who meet the specific technical requirements necessary to work in the dredging field.
“We need something that is going to be specific to us,” said Deschner. “We just don’t use the same equipment that other ships do. There just isn’t the pool of qualified workers we need to run those ships.”

A much more basic need for math and language training among the local workforce was addressed by Point Adams Packing Co. representative Nettie Blair.
“Over the last few years I’ve been hiring though temp agencies out in Longview and Hillsboro,” she said. “We train everybody internally because we want to keep them, but they don’t stick around. What do you do? Most of them have no education.”
The next step for the college will be to identify marine-related career pathways for the Lower Columbia region. The pathways will include the job readiness skills needed, along with the technical skills to provide initial entry-level employment.
“Our goal with the pathways will be to provide entry and exit points for individuals to enter the workforce and continue to pursue their education with the goal of completing a degree,” said Dr. Ruhland. “Future plans for the college will look at health related careers, hospitality and tourism.”

For US Corps of Engineers representative John Deschner, attending the focus group was a positive experience, and he’d like to see partnerships built with the college in the future.
“It is generating ideas and getting people from the different industries talking—it’s a good thing,” he said. “Like anything else, we need to see this through—that’s the hard part—especially in an industry that’s got so many ups and downs.”

(Far right) Steve Theberge of the OSU Sea Grant Extension, and John Deschner of the US Corps of Engineers (seated next to him) address the training and education needs for their respective industries during one of the focus group meetings held by Clatsop Community College. Representing CCC are (seated against the wall) Roger Friesen, Dean of Student Services, Bill Ham, Maritime Science Instructor and Eileen Purcell, Outreach Literacy Tutor Coordinator. Also pictured seated at the table is Nettie Blair of Point Adams Packing Co.