Is the governments management plan precautionary?
Canada still does not take a precautionary approach to its management of the sealing activities off its East coast. Canada’s risky, politically-driven approach to natural resources management contributed greatly to the collapse of cod and other fish stocks off Canada’s East coast in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Superficially, the Canadian government’s management plan might look like it is based on a precautionary approach. It contains words like “conservation [and] precautionary reference points,” and “control rules,” among other language usually found in precautionary management plans. Yet, viewed more closely, it becomes quite evident that the plan does NOT even begin to satisfy modern conservation standards of precaution. The management plan does not adequately account either for scientific or environmental uncertainty. The history of wildlife conservation has shown that when large mammals like seals have a price placed on their heads – or hides – the end result is almost always
