The Precautionary Principle in International Environmental Law: A Study of the Cases No. 3 & 4 of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea — The SBT Cases 

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to study cases n. 3 and 4 of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) — “The SBT Cases”, and to verify the extent to which they have contributed to the improvement of the precautionary principle at the international level. The relevance of this research is demonstrated by the need to analyze the limitations faced by the international legal regime to ensure the effectiveness of measures for the management and conservation of the marine environment in a comprehensive way, especially in the framework of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982. After all, this is a case where, even though it was initially recognized that a restriction on fishing is a precautionary measure ordered by ITLOS; it had been afterwards repealed by the Arbitral Tribunal because of a procedural discussion to the detriment of the importance of the fish stocks themselves. This work is presented in the form of a case study, for which the inductive method is applied; with respect to the approach, a descriptive-exploratory method is adopted; and as far as the form of analysis is concerned, a qualitative bibliographical and documental revision regarding the proposed theme is made. 

Key words: The SBT Cases, precautionary principle, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea