Legislative development of the precautionary principle: the EPBC Amendment (Declared Commercial Fishing Activities) Act 2012 and forthcoming changes to the Fisheries Management Act 1991

A rushed temporary amendment to the Environment

Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth)

(EPBC Act) was made in September 2012 to enable the

Environment Minister to impose a precautionary fishing

ban on the "super trawler" FV Abel Tasman, the world's

second-largest fishing vessel. At the same time, the

federal government initiated the first large-scale review

of federal fisheries legislation in more than 20 years. It

is anticipated that the review will lead to changes to the

Fisheries Management Act 1991 (Cth) (PM Act) that

will reduce the extent to which the EPBC Act encroaches

into the realm of fisheries management and will further

empower the Fisheries Minister to make decisions based

on the precautionary principle. The review provides a

timely opportunity to develop a more practical and

theoretically sound legislative incorporation of the precautionary

principle.