Research Document - 2008/079

Incorporating the precautionary approach into the provision of advice on marine mammals

By G. Stenson and M.O. Hammill

Abstract

Resource management requires tradeoffs between conservation, economic and political concerns in establishing harvest levels. The Precautionary Approach (PA) brings scientists, resource managers and stakeholders together to identify clear management objectives and define management actions that are triggered when a population approaches or falls below agreed upon benchmarks. A conceptual framework for applying the precautionary approach to marine mammals is outlined. For a data-rich species, precautionary and conservation reference levels are proposed. When a population falls below the precautionary reference level, increasingly risk-adverse conservation measures are applied. A more conservative, risk adverse approach is required for the management of data-poor species. This framework has been implemented for the management of commercial seal harvests in Atlantic Canada and can form the basis for the management of marine mammals in across Canada.

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