The report concludes that using individual transferable quotas - or ITQs as they are called - played a major part in preventing vulnerable fish stocks from collapsing.

The study has recently been published by the journal Science which comes out in favour of allowing fishermen to have a stake in the grounds in which they operate.

Research leader Christopher Costello from the University of California at Santa Barbara said: 'Under open access, you have a free-for-all race to fish, which ultimately leads to collapse. But when you allocate shares the catch, then there is an incentive to protect it.'

The ITQ system is broadly similar to the scheme operated in Nordic countries like Iceland. Iceland's Marine Research Institute defines a safe level of quota which is set for a given species or group of species in a prescribed area, and that catch is then shared out between individual boats or fleets. The ratio is dependent on the size of the fleet within each company.

Professor Costello's team said they studied a global database of more than 11,000 fisheries, and identified 121 that were managed using individual transferable quotas . Their main conclusion is that using ITQs halves the probability that the fishery will collapse. He added there was evidence that some stocks had recovered from a depleted state after adopting an ITQ-based management.

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