Regrettably, the Agenda 21 mandate on ocean issues, which lays down markers for sustainable fisheries, is not being taken seriously, while the fisheries crisis worsens. The FAO approach to the precautionary principle has fundamental problems, in part because it is based on false premises. For example, it often mentions that the biological effects of fishing are usually reversible. But while a few stocks have increased quickly following drastic declines, others have increased only slowly and many hardly at all. An assumption of reversibility is not compatible with the concept of precaution.
Precaution thus becomes responsive rather than proactive.
Experience has shown that measures taken in response to a situation are usually too late and too weak. They also recommended that if the coastal States are to exercise their sovereign rights, provisions must be developed that will prevent any abuse of the contemplated global or regional regimes to disadvantage coastal States. The IUCN has called for governments to base their procedures and future fisheries development and management on the precautionary principle. In order to effectively conserve fish stocks, it is essential that management action not be delayed until evidence of overfishing is apparent. The basis of a precautionary approach for highly migratory and straddling fish stocks is that all fished stocks should be subject to management.