Institutional changes and fleet structure: Towards the final solution?

• Main Author: Standal, Dag
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Barents Sea; Norway
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308-597X(06)00036-4

The introduction of modern trawl fishing in Norway after the Second World War was intended to be the very platform for the modernisation of the fishing industry. Right up to the end of the 1970s, market orientation and the absence of state regulation of fishing were on the agenda. However, the growth of unprofitable overcapacity, increase of international fishing efforts in the Barents Sea and declining resources contributed to the introduction of licences and quotas as a means of control. Within this traditional framework, the introduction of the unit quota system to concentrate the quotas at fewer vessels, have been regarded as the most important policy tool to cut down overcapacity. Even so, one can ascertain today that the unit quota system did not solve the problems with overcapacity, lack of profitability and allocation conflicts in the trawler fleet. This article deals with the content of the unit quota system and we explain how the overall effects deviate from the public goals of the system. Based on these facts, the authorities have launched new and dramatic measures intended to reduce catch capacity. The question now is whether or not the authorities' new strategy will be the final solution for the problems of overcapacity in the trawler fleet. Fisheries management Unit quota system Cod trawling