Study On The Individual Transferable Quota System For Icelandic Fishery Resources

Fisheries play an important role in global food security and economic development.The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO)mentioned in the 2021 Committee On Fisheries Declaration For Sustainable Fisheries And Aquaculture,Fisheries and aquaculture can play a role in contributing to the sustainable development of national economies,particularly in the eradication of poverty,hunger and malnutrition.However,under the combined influence of high fishing intensity and global climate change,fishery resources have declined to varying degrees,and some species have even become extinct.At present,China’s offshore fishing volume has exceeded the capacity of its fishery resources,resulting in a deterioration trend in fish stocks,and some catches show biological characteristics of decreasing the number of important economic fish,miniaturizing individual fish,becoming younger,and advancing sexual maturity.To this end,China has put forward a series of policies to try to improve the situation in offshore waters,such as reducing ship and production,switching production to industry,and moratorium on fishing in the summer season.However,these measures have not fundamentally and effectively alleviated the burden on offshore fishery resources,and the treatment effect is unsatisfactory.Input controls that indirectly control the number of fishing vessels and fishermen,as well as technical control methods that temporarily close fisheries,have not proved to be a long-term solution to the problem of overfishing.Fisheries management measures for output control can effectively control fishing efforts and are adopted by many developed fisheries,and the Individual transferable quota(ITQ)system is one of the main forms of output control adopted by many developed fisheries.Iceland’s ITQ system has received good feedback in the fisheries management process,in line with current trends in international fisheries management.Therefore,the study of Iceland’s ITQ system can provide certain enlightenment for China to change the current status quo.Although the types and characteristics of fisheries in the two countries are different,Iceland has also faced common problems such as fishery decline and indirect control measures that cannot effectively solve the problem of over exploitation of resources,and gradually solved these problems in the subsequent fishery reform,so Iceland’s practical experience has many merits worthy of in-depth study.Through the study of Iceland’s ITQ system,this paper deeply analyzes its development process,characteristics,management subjects,results and existing problems,and on this basis,combined with China’s national conditions and the current situation of fishery management,finally puts forward the enlightenment of Iceland’s fishery management experience based on the ITQ system to China.This paper studies the theoretical basic knowledge of the ITQ system,analyzes how the ITQ system as an output control system came into being in the long reform of marine fisheries,and explains the advantages and disadvantages of this system,so as to have a preliminary understanding of the system.Then,the ITQ system in Iceland is systematically studied,and an overview of Iceland’s fisheries and fisheries management system are introduced.In view of the fact that Iceland implemented the ITQ system only for a single species in the early stage of the reform,and then gradually extended it to other fish species,the development of fisheries in different periods was different,so the evolution of different fisheries in Iceland is summarized.From the perspective of the characteristics of Iceland’s ITQ system,the highlights of the system are analyzed,and they are summarized into four major aspects: TAC formulation and data collection,quota management and transfer,fishery fee collection,supervision and enforcement,and the management subjects that provide management and supervision roles of the ITQ system are studied.By studying the application of the ITQ system in Icelandic fisheries,the practical effects of this paper are discussed.Since the implementation of the ITQ system in Icelandic fishery,the system has had a profound impact on Iceland,and the effectiveness of the ITQ system in Icelandic fishery has been analyzed from the aspects of resource conservation effect and fishery economic benefit,and the long-standing problems in its development process have been explored,which is of practical significance to China’s research on fishery governance.At the end of the article,the current situation of the development and utilization of fishery resources in China is introduced,the difficulties encountered in China’s current fishery reform are analyzed,and the enlightenment for China’s fishery management is obtained in view of the current situation of fishery management in China,combined with the experience and lessons of Iceland’s implementation of the ITQ system: First,build a fishery management mechanism with the participation of multiple parties;the second is to strengthen the investigation and research of offshore fishery resources;The third is to determine a fair allocation method;Fourth,formulate flexible measures related to quotas;The fifth is to establish a landing and transaction control system.