In many cases, we have been doing some good things. I think we have to be careful not to create a bucket, fill it, and then assume that's all we need. We need to be much more strategic. I think we are missing targets and timelines. I can say that for fisheries in particular we haven't had targets or timelines for rebuilding our fish stocks. We might have targets for marine protected areas, and we miss them, we don't meet them.
I think that's where I get to the regulatory framework. If we're going to do this, then let's really do it and let's give ourselves targets. Let's put the Aichi targets into legislation. Let's become accountable, and not create blurry lines around what we might be doing and what's being done by provinces. We need to be really clear about what we want to achieve and in what timelines, and make sure we do it.
There's nothing worse—and I've been through ten years at the ESSIM, Eastern Scotian Shelf Integrated Management Initiative—than bringing together multiple stakeholders who work very hard, voluntarily, to then be met with no take-up by the federal government or no accountability on the regulator's part.
I think Canadians do spend a lot of volunteer time around conservation issues. A lot of things are being done jointly with NGOs and industry. Those things need to be recognized, quantified, and put in the context of targets and timelines. I can't stress that part enough. We can talk all we want, and it can sound good, but unless we have measurables we're not going to go anywhere and we're not going to achieve anything.
Around monitoring, again, I come from a science background. I did my PhD in marine biology. The current cuts to marine science, to me, are shocking, and we won't be able to replace them. We need to have basic monitoring.
We used to be known for science. The Bedford Institute of Oceanography did amazing work about 30 years ago. We have to incorporate that science and understand its contribution to innovation, understanding, and creating an educated Canada that cares about the environment. If we don't have the information, it's hard for us to care. I would argue that monitoring doesn't have to be incredibly expensive. It can be done efficiently. It can be done well. We do use lots of community stewardship models to collect information. All of that has to be done within a framework and a structure that is accountable and measurable.