Individual transferable quotas (ITQs) is a way of regulating fisheries that is becoming common in the Nordic countries. Iceland has based its fisheries sector on ITQs for a long time, but also Denmark has a well-developed ITQ-system that has been in place for almost a decade. In Sweden, the system has been introduced for pelagic species (herring, sprat and mackerel) which has led to a substantial reduction of the capacity of the fishing fleet.

The aim of the project is to analyse the development of the fishing fleets in the Nordic countries up until 2025 with current regulations as well as analyzing the effects of potential future regulations. ITQs are expected to reduce capacity and increase profit in the long run, but also to reduce the number of employees in the sector. Within the project the development of different types of fisheries that are regulated in different ways will be analysed. This includes non-ITQ regulations as well as national implementations of ITQ-systems. Examples of national versions could be species-specific systems, ITQ-systems with taxation or systems where part of a fishery is excluded.

The project is financed by the Nordic Council and is run in cooperation with partners in other Nordic countries. The project will run until 2018.