FEATURE ARTICLE 1 

 THE PRECAUTIONARY APPROACH 



ficially abbreviated as the UN Implementing 

 Agreement or UNIA, but commonly referred to 

 as the Straddling Stocks Agreement) (UN, 1993). 



The Compliance Agreement was adopted by 

 FAO Conference in November 1993. It specifies 

 the obligations of Parties whose vessels fish on the 

 high seas, including the obligation to ensure that 

 such vessels do not undermine international fish- 

 ery conservation and management measures. The 

 Compliance Agreement is considered to be an in- 

 tegral part of the Code of Conduct. The United 

 States implemented the Compliance Agreement 

 through the High Seas Fishing Vessel Compliance 

 Act of 1993 (16 U.S.C. 'SSSO et. seq.). 



The Straddling Stocks Agreement, negotiated 

 over a similar period as the FAO Code ot Con- 

 duct and now in the process of being ratified, con- 

 tains nearly identical language as the Code on 

 many issues, including the Precautionary Ap- 

 proach and General Principles for the conserva- 

 tion and management ol living marine resources. 

 Although the Straddling Stocks Agreement is 

 strictly applicable to straddling fish stocks and 

 highly migratory fish stocks, much ot it is also rel- 

 evant to fishery resources within national exclu- 

 sive economic zones. Indeed, the Straddling Stocks 

 Agreement is being used as the basis lor develop- 

 ing precautionary approaches to fisheries manage- 

 ment in many individual countries, as well as in 

 several intergovernmental organizations such as the 

 Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization 

 (NAFO) and the International Council for the Ex- 

 ploration ot the Sea (K"ES). 



research, and 3) fisheries technology. The Precau- 

 tionary Approach to fisheries management requires 

 avoidance ot overfishing, restoration of already 

 overfished stocks, explicit specification of manage- 

 ment objectives including operational targets and 

 constraints (e.g. target and limit reference points), 

 taking account of uncertaint)' by being more con- 

 servative, avoidance of excess harvest capacity, es- 

 tablishment ot rules tor controlling access, data 

 reporting requirements, development of sound 

 management planning processes involving exten- 

 sive consultation, and effective systems for moni- 

 toring and enforcement. Research in support of 

 precautionary management should be designed to 

 provide accurate and complete data and analyses 

 of relevance to fisheries management, to develop 

 operational targets and constraints, to provide sci- 

 entific evaluation ot the consequences ot manage- 

 ment actions, to incorporate uncertainty into as- 

 sessments and management, and to promote 

 multidisciplinary (biological, economic, and so- 

 cial) research. In terms of fisheries technology, the 

 Precautionary Approach primarily involves the 

 promotion of research to evaluate and improve 

 existing technologies and encourage development 

 ot appropriate new technologies, particularly those 

 that will prevent damage to the environment, im- 

 prcive economic and social benefits, and improve 

 safety. 



KEY ELEMENTS OF 



PRECAUTIONARY MANAGEMENT 



STRATEGIES 



SCOPE OFTHE 

 PRECAUTIONARY APPROACH 



The Precautionary Approach to fisheries man- 

 agement is multifaceted and broad in scope. As 

 stated by FAO (1993a), it applies at all levels of 

 fisheries systems: development planning, manage- 

 ment, research, technology development and trans- 

 fer, legal and institutional frameworks, fish cap- 

 ture and processing, fisheries enhancement, and 

 aquaculture. FAO's Technical Ciuidelines on the 

 Precautionary Approach to Capture Fisheries and 

 Species Introductions (FAO, 1993a) groups the 

 elements of the Precautionary Approach into three 

 categories: 1) fisheries management, 2) fisheries 



Following completion of the Code ot C'on- 

 duct and FAO's technical guidelines on the Pre- 

 cautionary Approach, the facets of the Precaution- 

 ary Approach that have received by tar the most 

 attention are: 1) definitions of overfishing incor- 

 porating target and limit reference points, 2) for- 

 mulation ot decision rules that stipulate in advance 

 what actions will be taken to prevent overfishing 

 and promote stock rebuilding, and 3) incorpora- 

 tion of uncertainty by using a risk-averse approach 

 to calculate targets, constrain fishing mortality, and 

 rebuild stock biomass. These facets have been the 

 focus of numerous workshops conducted by in- 

 tergovernmental organizations (e.g. ICES, NAFO, 

 North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organiza- 



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