The IVQ regime in Norway: A stable alternative to an ITQ regime?

✍ Scribed by Dag Standal; Bernt Aarset

• Book ID: 104043750
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 165 KB
• Volume: 32
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0308-597X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2007.11.007

✦ Synopsis

Since the introduction of quotas and licences as important management tools, Norway has insisted on an individual vessel quota regime (IVQ). The main argument has been to avoid market-based transactions of quotas and vessels and secure stability in regard to a diverse fleet structure and decentralized ownership of scarce cod resources. Thus, an individual transferable quota system (ITQ) with a high degree of transactions and the potential for a heavy concentration of quota ownership and fewer vessels has never been an alternative. However, since the late 80s, the trawler fleet has been trapped within a web of unprofitable overcapacity. Within the frame of a closed management regime and a path-dependent IVQ system, the quota regime has been forced towards a market-orientated system for transactions. In this article, we analyze the Norwegian IVQ system and discuss whether the aggregate effects of the IVQ regime are congruent with the models' profound ideals.