The International Superyacht Society (ISS) has announced that it has “assimilated” the Yacht Captains Association (YCA) membership. All current YCA members are now ISS members with full membership privileges, according to a statement.

YCA was announced at the Palm Beach International Boat Show in 2014. The association was created to serve the needs of captains and included educational seminars, networking events and other professional meetings.

YCA’s founders says the next step for the association is to become an integral part of ISS’s larger global mission to ensure sustainability in the global superyachting industry.

Captain Michael Schueler, one of YCA’s founding members, praised the new association. “ISS’s financial stability, diverse membership, industry partnerships and dedication to the future of yachting and yachting professionals provides the ideal infrastructure for building a captains community second-to-none,” he says in a statement. “Plans are already well under way to create autonomy for captains within the ISS committee structure.”

“WMG is honored to help ISS’s innovative approach in building sustainability in our most important resource—the seafaring human factor—and will bring all resources at its disposal to welcoming and encouraging initiatives of importance to ISS’s new Captain members,” says captain AJ Anderson, WMG and ISS board member in the statement.