have been introduced over the last five years. The first step to the introduction of individual limits and rights was the allocation of proportions of the pelagic quotas to fishing techniques. In the case of the mackerel fishery, the national regulation was implemented in 2010 with the aim of distributing the Spanish catch quota by gear, with 30% of the quota allocated for trawlers, 28% for purse seiners and 35% for artisanal fisheries. For all of them, 7% of the catch should be kept for the second half of the year. Landing limits have been considered for the mackerel fishery in recent years. In 2009 daily limits2 within top-down hierarchical management by the Spanish administration were introduced. However, these limits were initially proposed by the PO concerned as extension of rules for all POs involved in the fishery 3. The limits impose a constraint on catches and are not allocated on the basis of catch records. They are not transferable amongst vessels