Thus, a scientific activity needed to improve stock assessments for southern bluefin tuna was frustrated by the precautionary principle.

Incidentally, CITES is one of the very few venues that has elevated the precautionary approach into a principle. It is not expressed as a "principle" in UNCED's Agenda 21, nor in the Convention on Biological Diversity, nor in the UN Straddling Stocks agreement, and it is certainly not codified as a "principle" in the Law of the Sea Convention. It is well to be cautious when dealing with the Earth's natural resources, but we must be on guard against those who would use "the precautionary principle" as a tool to obstruct science or to deny sustainable use.

In closing, I would like to bring up one more issue and an appeal for action. The issue is the need to ban unregulated fishing vessels from the fisheries of the high seas. As most of you know, sound conservation and management of the ocean's fisheries resources is highly dependent upon accurate catch data, agreement to and enforcement of needed conservation measures, and cooperation among the nations that use a fisheries resource. Both the UN Law of the Sea Convention and the UN Convention on Straddling Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks call for nations fishing in regions of the high seas to cooperate in developing international organizations to conserve and manage the fish resources in each region.

The establishment of international organizations for the conservation and management of the fishery resources is an ongoing process. However, some countries and fishermen do not want to be bound by rules and regulations. They want to operate, in effect, outside of the law, where their catches can be unregulated and go unreported. Fishing vessels that change their registration to countries that are not members of conservation and management organizations are called "Flag of Convenience" vessels, or FOC for short.

FOC vessels do a great deal of harm to the world's fishery resources because they plunder the fish stocks, refuse to adopt measures that would alleviate the damage done to the ocean ecology through the use of improper fishing gear, and conceal catch data needed for proper stock assessment. It is long past time to put a stop to such practices.