Given the nature of scientific work, what we often find is that people in scientific types of jobs often stay longer in their jobs than, say, other public servants would naturally do.
Obviously we've been recognizing that this demographic crunch has been coming up on us for a number of years. So we developed our HR strategy in light of that. In terms of ensuring that we have the right people with the right competencies to carry on our mandate, what we've tended to focus on is not only work within the department, but also with our colleagues in the S and T community.
Essentially, what we've tried to do is, first of all, identify the competencies that we're going to need in the coming years in specific areas that we would call at risk, the very specialized knowledge that takes a long time to grow and foster. So the actions or the strategies we've put in place are trying to transfer some of the knowledge we are expecting will be walking out the door in the next little while, to ensure that the new generation of scientists have an opportunity to really gain from that expertise.
For example, one of the things we've instituted in the last couple of years is something we're calling knowledge transfer agreements. So a retiring scientist who's been identified as somebody who's going to be leaving in the next few years is essentially being partnered with an incoming scientist, somebody who's new in the area, and they have the opportunity to work together so that the knowledge is being transferred from one generation to the other.
We also have a very healthy scientist emeritus program. What that means is that scientists who are retiring are not leaving the organization; they're actually staying, being part of the organization, so that they can, in some instances, continue the work they've been doing or can mentor the new generation coming up behind them.
So I think we are taking steps to really ensure that we have the right qualifications, that people are coming in, and that we're doing the best we can to actually attract people from all over the globe, really, to come and work at Fisheries and Oceans.