The book sets out how a coastal state under international law could regulate international shipping where vessels pose a significant risk to their coastal and marine environment. The book argues that the use of of the precautionary principle would allow states to intervene where they consider vessels to be an unacceptable risk to the environment, in order to prevent or minimise the risk of occurrence of an accident or incident leading to environmental damage.

1. High Risk Vessels 2. Coastal States' Jurisdiction under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 3. Significance of the Precautionary Principle in Marine Law 4. Practical Applications of the Precautionary Principle in Marine Protection Law 5. Application of the Precautionary Principle and Vessel-source Pollution

Bénédicte Sage-Fuller is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University College Cork (Ireland). She has worked on EU research projects in the area of maritime safety and marine environmental protection since 2001. More recently she has lectured in fisheries law, and port law.