Each individual quota is a portion of the total quota (Total Allowable Catches, TAC) that can be caught each year according to

the state of a stock. However, also in this case, the partners complained that small-scale fishermen are facing several difficulties in the access to these quotas: 90% of bluefin tuna national quota is hold by just a few big vessels, and the small-scale fisheries segment has access to just 10% of the authorized catches. Corsica Region adds that no fishing vessels in their fleet would be eligible for a TFC Copanlisib system. In certain European areas (e.g. Scotland, Iceland) ITQs are mainly assigned on the basis of fishing vessels’ catch histories (species and quantities caught in recent years by each vessel); when it comes to new entries, quotas should be assigned taking into account the amounts that are allocated to vessels with similar characteristics. TACs are calculated for each target species on the basis of biological indices. Landings should be constantly monitored so that the fishing season can be terminated as soon as the TAC value is reached. Through this measure, learn more the management authority can fix lower catch levels if the resource is overexploited, so that stocks can progressively recover. Once a stock has reached sustainable levels again, TAC can be raised to the

initial or even higher values. However, two basic requirements must be satisfied for the

measure to be effective: on the one hand, catches should be constantly monitored (resource state assessment), on the other hand, fishermen should be constantly monitored too (compliance with DNA Synthesis inhibitor the rules). The TAC to be distributed among individual quota owners can only be determined if the state of stocks is known. None of the partners reckons that a system based on catch histories would be appropriate and feasible for the Mediterranean. The main reason is a general lack of sound and reliable individual historical data. The assessment of the status of resources is considered as a key factor for the introduction of management systems based on TFC. In particular TACs can only be determined on the basis of stock assessment data and models, but these are available only for a limited number of species in the Mediterranean Sea. In the Mediterranean Sea the use of TACs is no guarantee of success and of optimal management, since the two requirements mentioned above (resource assessment and compliance control) are not always completely satisfied. In the Mediterranean Sea a further criticality is related to the fact that demersal and pelagic stocks are shared among different States and this should be taken into account when assigning TFCs. The Adriatic Sea is probably the largest and best-defined area of occurrence of shared stocks in the Mediterranean.