XL Quota Holding

An excessive quota holding is an accumulation of catch share by a single operator large enough to raise market-power and consolidation concerns, controlled through share caps in transferable-quota systems. The US Magnuson-Stevens Act bars excessive shares in individual fishing quota programs: the Alaska halibut and sablefish program sets explicit percentage caps, while the surfclam and ocean-quahog programs rely on antitrust law instead of a defined limit. Caps stop one firm cornering a fishery as quota trades after privatization. New Zealand and Australian ITQ systems apply similar aggregation limits.