IQ (Individual Quota)

IQ is a fisheries management system and stands for Individual Quota.

This means that the amount of catch that can be caught is allocated to each fisher or fishing vessel, and fishing exceeding the quota is prohibited, thereby managing the amount of catch. Since a certain amount of catch is allocated to each fisher, it has the advantage of eliminating competition for catches and suppressing excessive investment. In Japan, the revised Fisheries Act will introduce IQ management in principle to ministerially licensed fisheries that mainly target TAC fish species.

The IQ system, along with ITQ (Individual Transferable Quota), which can be transferred or loaned to other fishermen, has been adopted in many developed fishing countries, and has produced results such as the recovery of catch volumes that had once declined.