Into the scrap iron business: Transaction costs for fleet sustainability in Norway

For decades the need to reduce surplus fishing capacity has been a fisheries political priority. While decommissioning schemes (buyback programs) usually is a publicly financed measure to reduce capacity, the Norwegian decommissioning scheme is privately financed. Whereas market-based transactions are assumed to lead to cost free adaptations, the Norwegian version reflects public policy aims which impose severe transaction costs on private actors. This article examines the use of market mechanisms for fleet capacity reduction, how private actors adapted to the new order, and the transfer of quota transaction costs from the public to the private sphere.