The issue
Fisheries operate in a very extensive, complex,
and inter-connected system of aquatic ecosystems,
with important natural fluctuations and possible
long-term man-induced trends. The functioning of
the ecosystems is only partially understood. The
various impacts of human activities, including
fishing, and their potential reversibility are not
completely understood. But with a few exceptions,
the information available on the fisheries
themselves is poor and often biased. As a
consequence, the decisions related to fisheries
development planning, management and conservation
are made in a context of widespread uncertainty
with potentially negative and possibly irreversible
consequences for the resource, the environment and
the people. As a consequence, a precautionary
approach is required with degrees of precaution
depending on the degree of uncertainty, risk, and
reversibility of the impacts. When uncertainty is
low, preventive measures may be established. When
the cost of a potential error is low, corrective
measures may suffice. When both uncertainty, risk
and costs become significant, science-based
risk-management becomes necessary. Beyond a certain
level of uncertainty and risk, considered
unacceptable by society, bans and moratoria,
prohibiting fishing (or aquaculture) may be put in
place. Because of the level of uncertainty
involved, and the potential economic impact,
decisions will usually require negotiations between
stake holders. The conventional fishery management
toolbox has always contained a number of such
"precautionary" elements. Unfortunately, during the
last half-century, these elements have been either
scarcely used or poorly enforced.
Possible solutions
In order to reduce risk, the adoption and
implementation of the precautionary approach
is requested in a number of international
instruments of importance to fisheries, inter
alia:
- Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration of the
UN Conference on Environment and Development
(Rio de Janeiro, 1992) which states that "In
order to protect the environment, the
precautionary approach shall be widely applied
by States according to their capabilities. Where
there are threats of serious or irreversible
damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall
be not used as a reason for postponing
cost-effective measures to prevent environmental
degradation".
- The General Principles and Article 6.5 of
the 1995 FAO International Code of Conduct
for Responsible Fisheries which prescribe a
precautionary approach to all fisheries, in all
aquatic systems, and regardless of their
jurisdictional nature, recognizing that most
problems affecting fisheries result from
insufficiency of precaution in management
regimes when faced with the high levels of
uncertainty encountered in fisheries.
- The 1995 United Nations Fish Stock
Agreement which developed a consensus on the
need to introduce or strengthen the
precautionary approach to fishery management,
imbedding the concept in the draft text of its
outcome, and outlining elements for its
implementation.
Because uncertainty affects all elements of the
fishery system in varying degrees, some degree of
precaution is required at all levels of the system:
in development planning, management, research,
technology development and transfer, legal and
institutional frameworks, fish capture and
processing, fisheries enhancement and
aquaculture.
Action taken
FAO took the lead by reviewing the implications
of the precautionary approach for fisheries and
imbedding the approach in the Code of Conduct and
promoting its integration in the New York Fish
Stock Agreement. FAO also developed, in
collaboration with Sweden, technical guidelines for
the precautionary approach to capture fisheries
and species introduction, in support of the
implementation of the Code of Conduct (FAO, 1996).
The precautionary approach adopted recognises
that:
- all fishing activities have significant
impacts;
- fisheries impacts are not negligible unless
proved otherwise;
- the complex and changing fishery system will
never be perfectly understood;
- scientific advice for management is
therefore always affected by uncertainty;
- management decision processes and sector's
compliance add their own uncertainties;
- impacts of fisheries on the system are
therefore difficult to predict accurately;
and
- consequences of management errors may be
only slowly reversible.
As a consequence, and recognising that the
conduct of fisheries requires that decisions are
still made with incomplete knowledge, the approach
requires inter alia that:
- a level of precaution commensurate to risk
be applied at all times to all fisheries;
- it be applied systematically, i.e. in
research, management, and fishing
operations;
- potentially irreversible changes be avoided
(to maintain options for future
generations);
- undesirable outcomes be anticipated and
measures be taken to reduce their
likelihood;
- corrective measures be applied immediately
and be effective within an acceptable time;
- priority be given to conserving the
productive capacity of the resource;
- precautionary limits be put on fishing
capacity on highly uncertain resources;
- all fishing activities be subjected to prior
authorisation and periodic review;
- the burden of proof be appropriately
(realistically) placed;
- standards of proof commensurate with the
potential risk to the resource be established;
and
- the approach is formalised in a
comprehensive legal and institutional
framework.
The precautionary approach has now been widely
adopted by a number of fishery bodies (CCMALR,
IPHC, IWC, ICES, NAFO, NASCO, ICCAT, MHLC, SEAFO),
and its implementation is actively discussed in
some others (APFIC, WECAF, GFCM) and advancing
rapidly in ICES. The approach has also been
indirectly applied by ITLOS in relation to the
South Pacific Bluefin tuna case. It is also
advancing rapidly in a few countries (e.g. USA,
Canada, Australia, South Africa). In all these
cases, the precautionary approach has been largely
confined to its biological elements and a more
balanced application need to address social and
economic risks as well.
In Fisheries, the practical implementation of
the precautionary approach has progressed faster
than in any other management framework. In
addition, the representations needed (e.g.
indicators and reference points) are
also used in the sustainable development
reference systems (SDRS) proposed by FAO for
fisheries. The combination of the two concepts and
their active implementation by regional fishery
bodies represent a major change in the global
fisheries management landscape with potentially
significant implications for the resources and the
sector. The outcome of the ongoing efforts has
been:
- determination of limit reference points
materialising biological constraints and minimum
requirements for sustainability;
- determination of thresholds (or "buffers")
to ensure that the limits are not accidentally
violated;
- improved methodology to evaluate uncertainty
and the risk attached to it;
- elaboration and evaluation of precautionary
harvest control rules and assessment of their
robustness;
- the elaboration of rebuilding strategies and
plans (and special control rules) for overfished
stocks.
- incorporation of uncertainty about the state
of stocks into management scenarios;
- improved communication between scientists
and managers as to explicit uncertainty
consideration and their impact;
- more explicit statement of objectives by
policy-makers as a basis for establishing target
reference points;
- development, adoption and implementation of
precautionary fisheries management plans;
and
- implementation of recovery plans for
depleted resources.
Outlook
More effort is needed to foster progress. As the
subject is of utmost importance it seems likely
that additional resources will be assigned and used
for:
- identification, analysis, systematic
organisation and formal adoption of a limited
number of reference points covering the
ecosystem, economic, institutional and other
social aspects;
- further identification of related sources of
uncertainty and their impact in terms of risk;
including for the human component of the fishery
system;
- explicit relation of reference points to
objectives of fisheries management and
development policies as well as constraints
imposed by the ecosystems and human
well-being;
- appropriate co-representation of reference
points as a means to convey in as simple a way
as possible the issues, trade-offs,
alternatives, etc. to managers, industry, and
the public;
- systematic analysis of the robustness of
management strategies and processes to
uncertainty.
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