The Ties That (Do Not) Bind: The ITQ System and Concentration in the Icelandic Fish Processing Industry, 1987-2004

This paper explores the reasons why the ties between harvesting and processing have been severed in the Icelandic fisheries in recent decades, and traces the role played by better transport, the emergence of domestic wet-fish markets, and the introduction of freezing trawlers, as well as other factors in this development. Attention then is focused upon increasing concentration in the processing industry, with special attention paid to the role played by economies of scale and the ITQ system, which was introduced in the main demersal fisheries in 1984 and, six years later, in all other fisheries.