Swedish Fishing in the Wake of ITQ

Abstract

In recent years, Sweden has managed its fisheries in line with the analysis made by the European Commission: overcapacity is persistent and only a few fleet segments have a level of income that can provide acceptable wages and scope for investment. An ITQ system was put in place in pelagic fisheries in the autumn of 2009. The chapter analyses the effects of the introduction of ITQ in Sweden. The introduction of the ITQs in the pelagic fishery led to a rationalization of the fleet, which, at first glance, has meant a more profitable pelagic fishery, with less black money (Wramner, Professor emeritus environmental science and former director of the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management. Interview, 2013 09 02, 2013) in the fishery. However, not all of the catch fisheries have been placed under ITQ, and this has produced unintended effects. First mover advantages and forms of concentration and expansion have been stimulated in a skewed fashion. The system is inflexible when it comes to making markets for by-catch, and hinders the recruitment of young fishers into the industry. It has also led to displacement of Swedish pelagic fishers into coastal demersal fishing or overseas fisheries, and to the sale of boats to owners who are now active in cod fishing or in the shrimp fishery. As a result, there is now overcapacity, poor profitability, and catch dumping in the Swedish shrimp fisheries and perhaps in Sweden’s Baltic Sea cod fishery.