ABSTRACT
This chapter will discuss the extent to which the precautionary principle or precaution has been incorporated into legal and policy discussions with regard to the marine environment. Neither space nor time permits a systematic review of all legislative and policy actions relating to the marine environment on both sides of the Atlantic. What is attempted here is, of necessity, a brief description of the evolution of the place of precaution in the marine sphere and an assessment of the extent to which it has taken root within the policy debate globally and in Europe and the United States. The chapter starts by tracing the emergence of precaution, initially in Europe in the debates about the quality of the North Sea, and its rapid spread into other marine environmental sectors including fishery regulation. If there is a uniting theme for the variety of instruments covered, it will be broadly the conservation of marine ecosystems.
