Back to square one? Fisheries allocation under pressure

• Published in: Marine policy Vol. 43; pp. 236 - 245
• Main Authors: Standal, Dag, Hersoug, Bjørn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2014
• Subjects: Allocation keys; Allocations; Assessments; Coastal; Coastal fleet; Competition; Employment; Fish; Fisheries; Institutional change; Marine; Markets; Norway; Policies; Quotas; Structural policies; The TAC-machine; ANE, Norway; Coastal fleet; Allocation keys; Structural policies; Institutional change; The TAC-machine
• ISSN: 0308-597X; 1872-9460
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2013.06.004

In Norway there is a long tradition of allocating fish resources among the fishers. In modern times this has been done through specific allocation keys. This article describes the development of the allocation system for the offshore (trawler) and coastal fleets. The allocation system is closely related to stock assessment and the fixing of global quotas (TACs) as well as structural policies to prevent “capacity creep”. All three systems can be seen as institutions, where the TAC-machine is firmly established while the two others are under pressure, largely due to competition on the global fish market. The established goal of maintaining a diversified fishing fleet is now gradually being dismantled, with repercussions for coastal employment and settlement patterns. The coastal fleet is per 2013 something entirely different from the situation in 1990, when the coastal fisheries were effectively closed. Sooner or later this development is bound to change also the management institutions, and in particular the allocation system and the closely related structural policies. •This article describes the development of the resource allocation system for the deep sea fleet and the coastal fleet.•The allocation system is closely related to other institutions, such as stock assessment as well as structural policies to prevent unprofitable overcapacity.•The need to strengthen the fleets' economic performance, market orientation, technical liberalization and autonomy has put pressure on the original intention of the resource allocation policy.