The Tribunal thus considers the harvesting of sea turtles, species threatened with extinction, to constitute a harm to the marine environment as such. The Tribunal further has no doubt that the harvesting of corals and giant clams from the waters surrounding Scarborough Shoal and features in the Spratly Islands, on the scale that appears in the record before it, has a harmful impact on the fragile marine environment. The Tribunal therefore considers that a failure to take measures to prevent these practices would constitute a breach of Articles 192 and 194(5) of the Convention, and turns now to consider China’s responsibility for such breaches.

The vessels involved in the incidents described above were all Chinese flag vessels, under the jurisdiction and control of China. In the Tribunal’s view, where a State is aware that vessels flying its flag are engaged in the harvest of species recognized internationally as being threatened with extinction or are inflicting significant damage on rare or fragile ecosystems or the habitat of depleted, threatened, or endangered species, its obligations under the Convention include a duty to adopt rules and measures to prevent such acts and to maintain a level of vigilance in enforcing those rules and measures.

In 2000, the People’s Republic of China updated its Fisheries Law, Article 30 of which prohibits the “use of explosives, poisons, electricity and any other means in fishing that impairs the fishery resources......

QUESTIONS:-

1. Analyse the difference between the principle of prevention and precaution. Is it the same?

2. If there is a separate principle of precaution, do we need a principle of prevention?

3. What are the characteristic features of the principle of prevention?