The Management of Multispecies Fisheries in Denmark - A Case Study of Fish Pools

Management of mixed fisheries is challenging. This is particularly the case because current harvesting tools are largely based on single species management with overall and individual quotas set stock by stock. As harvest quantities may not be aligned with quotas, this may give rise to choke species, high-grading, discarding and IUU fishing. Challenges are typically compounded by heterogeneous fishing fleets. In this article we analyse this issue in the context of Danish demersal fisheries. A particular feature of the management of mixed fisheries in Denmark is fishermen’s cooperatives, known as fish pools. These are essentially fishermen’s cooperatives and play a crucial role in establishing a flexible transferability mechanism.