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This document was prepared to be used as a background document to the FAO Guidelines on the Precautionary Approach to Fisheries and Species Introduction (FAO, 1995). It contains a series of scientific papers prepared to provide a comprehensive review and analytical background for the drafting of guidelines on the precautionary approch to fisheries by the Technical Consultation on the Precautionary Approach to Capture Fisheries (Including Species Introductions) organized in Lysekil, Sweden, 6–13 June 1995 by the Government of Sweden in cooperation with FAO. It provides a comprehensive review of the concept of precaution in all aspects of fisheries and of its implications for fishery research, technology development and transfer, as well as for conservation and management. It also provides with a series of topical papers on: (a) the development of scientific advice with incomplete information; (b) risk assessment, economics and precautionary fishery management; (c) precautionary management reference points and management strategies; (d) the assessment of the precautionary nature of fishery management strategies; (e) the precautionary approach to species introduction; and (f) the precautionary aspects of fishery technology development.