Opinion | The Water Is Ours - So Why Aren’t Jobs?

For twenty years, we have heard the same promise from government after government: “We must diversify our economy. We cannot rely so heavily on tourism.”

Yet every year, the opposite happens. Tourism grows, everything else shrinks, and our national dependence deepens. We talk diversification, but we build nothing to support it. We warn about fragility, but we reinforce the same fragile structure.

And nowhere is this contradiction more glaring than in the one sector that should already belong to Turks Islanders: Water Sports and Marine tourism.

We live in a country where the ocean is our greatest asset — our identity, our livelihood, our brand. Yet the jobs connected to that ocean are overwhelmingly filled by foreign labour. Not because Turks Islanders can’t do the work. Not because the skills are too advanced. But because the one institution designed to train our people — the Turks and Caicos Islands Community College — has refused, repeatedly, to build the programmes that would put our young people on the water, in the workforce, and in control of their own economic destiny.

This is not a small oversight. This is a national failure.

A College with a Mandate — But No Vision

When TCICC was created, its mandate was clear:Provide Education and Training that meet the Workforce needs of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Training. Skills. Workforce development. Not just academics.

Yet thirty years later, the College still has no trade school, no construction training, no plumbing, no electrical, no HVAC, no mechanics, no butchery — despite a decade‑long construction boom that could have absorbed hundreds of apprentices. Seven Stars. Ritz‑Carlton. St. Regis. South Bank. Shore Club. Blue Cay.

Dozens of villas and mid‑scale developments. All built with foreign skilled labour because TCICC never produced a single cohort of trained tradespeople. We missed that window. It will not come again. But the failure did not stop there.

The Water Sports Gap: A National Blind Spot

Water sports is not a side activity. It is a pillar of our tourism product. It is the heart of our visitor experience and the backbone of many small businesses. It is also one of the few sectors where Turks Islanders could dominate with the right training.

And yet, TCICC offers nothing in this space.

No lifeguard certification. No swimming instruction. No rescue training. No pool attendant programme. No scuba diving certifications. No boat captain training. No deckhand programme. No dive master pipeline. No kiteboarding instructor training. No waterski or wakeboard instruction. No jet ski safety certification. No marine mechanics. No environmental stewardship training. Nothing.

And here is the part that should concern every citizen: TCICC has been approached multiple times to create a Water Sports Department — and the Board rejected it on three separate occasions. Their reasoning? They “did not see the benefit for Turks Islanders.”

Let that sink in.

In a country where tourism is 85% of GDP…In a country surrounded by water…In a country where water sports is one of the fastest‑growing sectors…In a country where these skills can be taught in 6–12 months…In a country where young people are desperate for opportunity…The Board of the national college could not see the benefit. This is not just shortsighted. It is economically irrational.

The Consequence: Permanent Dependence

Because TCICC refuses to train our people, we now import:

• Dive masters

• Boat captains

• Jet ski operators

• Kiteboarding instructors

• Marine mechanics

• Lifeguards

• Rescue personnel

We import the very jobs that should be ours. We import the income. We import the expertise. We import entrepreneurship. We import the future. And we do it willingly — because the institution responsible for training Turks Islanders has chosen not to.

The Bigger Picture: A Country Out of Alignment

This is not just about water sports. This is about a national system that is out of alignment with its own needs.

TCICC is not aligned with:

• the labour market

• the tourism economy

• Vision 2040

• youth opportunity

• national diversification goals

• the country’s natural assets

We talk about diversification, but we do not diversify the workforce.We talk about opportunity, but we do not build the pathways.We talk about empowerment, but we do not train our people for the jobs that exist right now.

This is how a country becomes dependent. Not by accident — but by design.

One Simple, Clear Solution: Create the Turks & Caicos Marine and Water Sports Academy

Not a committee. Not a study. Not another speech.

A Marine and Water Sports Academy — housed at TCICC, funded by government, and operated in partnership with the private sector.

A one‑year programme that trains:

• Lifeguards

• Swimmers

• Rescue personnel

• Pool attendants

• Boat captains

• Deckhands

• Dive masters

• Scuba instructors

• Jet ski operators

• Kiteboarding instructors

• Waterski and wakeboard instructors

• Marine mechanics

• Environmental stewards

With mandatory certification for anyone operating commercially in TCI waters. This is simple. This is achievable. This is affordable. This is transformative. And it would put hundreds of Turks Islanders into high‑demand, well‑paid, ocean‑based careers within a single year.

The Water Is Ours — The Jobs Should Be Too

We cannot keep saying “diversify the economy” while refusing to diversify the workforce. We cannot keep saying “empower our people” while denying them the training that leads to real jobs. We cannot keep saying “the ocean is our greatest asset” while handing the ocean economy to foreign labour. The water is ours. The reefs are ours. The beaches are ours. The tourism product is ours. It is time the jobs were ours too.

And it starts with one decision: Build the Marine and Water Sports Academy — now.