g. minimum mesh size, number of pots, length and drop of a passive nets, size of dredges, number of hooks in the longline), access to fishing grounds (e.g. closed areas, Marine Protected areas) and the time spent to fish (vessel usage controls, such as the interruption of trawling during the recruitment and reproduction season of commercial marine species). The output (catch) controls involve direct restrictions

on the amount of marine organisms that can be taken in a certain fishery in a certain period of time, often equivalent to a year or fishing season (catch controls systems such as quotas). Output controls also involve the definition of a minimum size for the fish that can be landed (minimum landing size) and limits of the number of fish that may be landed in a

PLX4032 in vivo day, generally used for the management of recreational fisheries. In 2009 Epigenetics inhibitor the European Commission identified in fleet overcapacity and inefficiency, associated to a general overfishing of stocks [10], two of the main issues threatening the EU fisheries sector. In such a context, in order to specifically tackle the problem of overcapacity and achieve an efficient management and use of resources, economists have suggested to create a property rights system for the access to resources (fishery Rights-Based Management, RBM; [11], [12], [13], [14] and [15]). Property rights are defined as a package of entitlements defining the owner’s rights, privileges

and limitations for use of the resource [16]. Property rights can be more or less effective for fisheries resource management as a function of four features [17]: – Universality: how many of the resources are privately owned, and at what extent property rights are specified. RBM thus covers a wide range of systems: limited licensing, limited transferable licensing, individual non-transferable effort quotas, individual transferable effort quotas, individual non-transferable catch quotas (IQ), individual transferable quotas (ITQ), vessel catch limits, vessel transferable quotas (VTQ), community transferable quotas Parvulin (CTQ), and Territorial Use Rights in fisheries (TURF) [15] and [18]. In 2011 the European Commission proposed a set of principles and regulations for the Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy [19] and [20]. In particular, a market-based system of Transferable Fishing Concessions (TFC) was proposed in order to contribute to achieve efficiency, reduce fleet overcapacity and increase economic viability of the fisheries sector. Transferable Fishing Concessions (TFC) can be defined as a form of rights-based fisheries management that entitle the holder to a specific proportion of its Member State’s annual fishing quota or allowable fishing effort.