his legal opinion assesses a proposal presented by the European Union (EU) to Panel 4 of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) in October 2021 regarding the management of North Atlantic Shortfin Mako (NA-SMA) against the legal framework for the application of the precautionary approach under the UN Fish Stocks Agreement (UNFSA). Article 5(c) UNFSA requires States Parties to the UNFSA to adopt science-based conservation and management measures able to achieve long-term sustainability of highly migratory fish stocks such as the NA-SMA, and to “apply the precautionary approach in accordance with [Article 6 UNFSA]”. Under Article 6(1) UNFSA, States Parties must “apply the precautionary approach widely to conservation, management and exploitation of [...] highly migratory fish stocks in order to protect the living marine resources and preserve the marine
environment”. As a State Party to the UNFSA, the EU would be in violation of Articles 5(c)
and 6(1) UNFSA if the EU’s conduct in the adoption of a conservation and management
measure falls short of applying the precautionary approach