FEATURE ARTICLE 1 

 THE PRECAUTIONARY APPROACH 



"Conservation and management measures 

 shall be based upon the best scientific in- 

 formation available." 



To the extent that seientific research can re- 

 duce uncertainties, the distance between targets 

 and limits can be reduced when using a Precau- 

 tionary Approach to management. 



CONCLUSION 



Tai<en individually, elements ot the Precaution- 

 ary Approach, such as the need to be proactive, 

 management based on reference points, and risk- 

 averse decision making, are not novel, although 

 all elements have seldom, if ever, been applied in 

 combination. What the Precautionary Approach 

 does is integrate these and other elements into a 

 formal operational framework for decision mak- 

 ing (or, in the dictionary definition of approach, 

 "a particular manner of taking such steps"). The 

 particular order in which those steps should be 

 taken under the Precautionary Approach is that 

 conservation constraints should be met before 

 other objectives. At face value, this does not sound 

 like anything new. However, the reality of the fish- 

 eries management experience in most instances to 

 date is that short-term objectives have generally 

 taken precedence twer long-term ones. 



There are two other aspects of the Prccaution- 

 ar\- Approach that, while they may not be com- 

 pletely novel, challenge the notion that it may be 

 possible to equate adherence to the Precautionary 

 Approach with business as usual. I he first is the 

 notion of MSY-based reference points as limits to 

 be avoided, rather than targets to be achie\ed (or 

 exceeded). Although this is not a rigid requirement 

 of the Precautionary Approach, it is specificall)' 

 suggested in Annex II of the Straddling Stocks 

 Agreement (UN, 1 99S), and is being seriouslv con- 

 sidered by ICES, NAFO, NASCO, and the U.S. 

 Government. It is also consistent with the 

 MSFCMA. Second, the Precautionary Approach 

 is an explicit and detailed attempt to articulate the 

 need for, and means of, bringing to fruition the 

 paradigm shift that is currently in progress. It is 

 apparent that fisheries are in transition from a para- 

 digm of "it is not possible to overexploit marine 



Fishing mortality rate 

 divided by the fishing 

 mortality rate result- 

 ing in maximum 

 sustainable yield 



1 50 



Overfished 

 state 



Optimum-yield 

 harvest control 

 rule 



50 



I 00 



Current stock size divided 



by the stock size associated 



with maximum sustainable yield 



(B/B^,J 



resources ' to one of "it is not acceptable to over- 

 exploit marine resources," but that at the global 

 level this transition is only in its infancy. Comple- 

 tion of this transition will require a change in busi- 

 ness as usual by all levels of participants in fishing 

 operations and decisionmaking; i.e. politicians, 

 tnanagers, scientists, fishermen, and consumers. 

 For most players, a complete change in mind-set 

 is needed to be proactive rather than reactive, to 

 put conservation objectives ahead of short-term 

 gain, to proceed with caution, to treat fishing as a 

 privilege (with associated obligations and respon- 

 sibilities) rather than a birthright, to reject the sta- 

 tus quo when it is obvious that the status quo is 

 not viable in the long term, and, perhaps most 

 importantly, to realize and accept the fact that only 

 a limited number of participants can derive a live- 

 lihood from capture fishing. Advances that are al- 

 readv in progress must be taken seriously; for ex- 

 ample, 1 ) the specification of limit reference points 

 that will constrain fishing within sate biological 

 limits, 2) the establishment of management tar- 

 gets that are explicitly risk-averse, and 3) reversal 

 of the burden of proof. 



Figure 2 



Hypothetical example illus- 

 trating limit and target har 

 vest control rules. The limit 

 (thick horizontal line) defines 

 overfishing as any fishing 

 mortality rate (Fl higher than 

 that which maximizes long- 

 term yield (F^j ). In the ex- 

 ample, the stock is said to be 

 overfished when its stock 

 size (B) falls below one-half 

 of the IVISY stock size level 

 (1/2 B^5 .vertical white line). 

 The example target (dashed 

 line) is intended to achieve 

 high yields while avoiding 

 overfishing: At "healthy" 

 stock sizes, i.e. at or above 

 the B„^j level, the target 

 fishing mortality is set 25% 

 below the limit; if the stock 

 is below the B^^^ level, the 

 target fishing mortality is re- 

 duced monotonically so as 

 to allow for rebuilding back 

 to B„, ,- 



69 



