More than a thousand new jobs have been created thanks to help from the Cornwall Marine Network, with the organisation saying this has brought a regional economic benefit to Cornwall worth more than £100million.

CEO of Cornwall Marine Network Paul Wickes said: “It is fantastic to be in a position to have helped some 1,100 people into work since CMN began operating in 2005. This milestone has been achieved through an excellent team who provide a range of specialist business support programmes which are focused on promoting the prosperity of the Cornish marine industry.”

CMN is a not-for-profit membership-owned organisation which has attracted project funding into Cornwall through regional, national and EU projects within the past decade. It has delivered specialist schemes that help member companies to expand and employ more staff and runs programmes such as the Cornwall Apprenticeship Agency that "attract young Cornish talent into the marine industry, create work experience and training opportunities, promote career pathways and help people get jobs".

MP for Truro and Falmouth Sarah Newton met teenager Kaelan Dunbar (pictured) who recently secured work as a marine engineer through one such scheme. CMN’s Apprenticeship Agency training division helped match the 18-year-old with Penryn subsea company Feritetch Ltd after he completed one of the network’s pre-apprenticeship training programmes.

Mrs Newton said: “Kaelan’s career progression is a great example of how Cornwall Marine Network is helping to stimulate growth and employment in the region. The organisation has a strong track record of delivering skills and training programmes and responding to businesses’ needs. It is particularly recognised for brokering opportunities for the micro-businesses that make up the majority of marine companies in Cornwall and who most need the support services provided by CMN.”

The current figure for employees helped into work by CMN since 2005 now exceeds 1,100. The economic benefit of this number of people going back into work, according to the Office of National Statistics and the City and Guilds’ Economic Value of Apprenticeships, is more than £25million in this year alone.

In addition, CMN has itself employed 39 specialist staff over the course of the last nine years to support delivery of its services to the sector.

Nick Blandford, head of business and skills for Cornwall Development Company, said: “It’s really fantastic that the Cornwall Marine Network has achieved this milestone of supporting the creation of over 1,000 new jobs, many of them highly skilled, over the last nine years. Cornwall Development Company’s predecessor entity Cornwall Enterprise was instrumental with others in helping launch CMN but it has been the hard work undertaken by Paul Wickes and his team that has made all this happen.”