Research

Individual Transferable Quota improvement project

  • Research Theme
    Fisheries & Aquaculture
  • Funded By

    Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC)

  • Principal Investigator
  • Contributor(s)

    Dr Steven Rust, Dr Emily Ogier, Dr Klaas Hartmann, Dr Tim Emery, Dr Nils Krueck, Sevaly Sen, Dr George Kalis, Dr Ian Dutton (NRE Tas)

  • Project Summary

    IMAS has commenced a project to help improve the performance of Individual Transferable Quota (ITQ) systems.  The project will engage with fisheries managers and policy makers, quota holders and fishers, researchers and people in the wider seafood industry such as processors and retailers.

    ITQs are one of several types of quota management systems.  As with other quota systems, a total allowable annual catch (TAC) is used to manage stock levels and ecological interaction.

    ITQ systems involve dividing this TAC into individual shares, usually with private ownership, that are allowed to be traded or leased. This ITQ component is included for economic objectives.  There are many details in the structure of ITQ systems that are used to adjust the fishery’s economic and social outcomes, such as the rules on transfer and holdings of catch shares.

    Quota systems have been introduced for many fisheries globally over the past 40 years and across almost all of Australia’s largest commercial fisheries. Globally and within Australia, there is discussion on how ITQ systems can be adjusted through time to improve performance or even respond to different economic objectives. These adjustments need to be practical and feasible for management agencies and/or industry organisations to consider.

    This project will involve:

    1. Reviewing design and assessments of global ITQ fisheries, and what sort of adaptive management measures and adjustments have addressed gaps in fishery performance due to ITQ design and operation.

    2. Applying these global insights to Australian fisheries, using four fisheries as case studies and guided by a Steering Group of management and industry experts.

    3. Developing, piloting and refining an ITQ adaptive management tool.

    4. Extending and building capability to applying the ITQ adaptive management tool with management agencies and industry organisations.

    Read more on the FRDC website.

    Photo: Future of Fish

    Interested in this project?

Authorised by the Executive Director, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies
7 March, 2022