in the danish north sea cod fishery resistance from fishers toward stock recovery can partly be explained by the absence of future benefits from recovered stocks compared to shortterm losses that they would face not only from the cod stock but also from other stocks that cannot be exploited fully or only at higher costs for this reason most countries that have introduced quota systems have at the same time set limitations on total quota holdings and rules regarding the transferability of quotas through time or between particular groups of quota holders furthermore the initial allocation of quotas has proven to be an issue of concern in many cases