What is often suggested to justify this approach is the stewardship of fishery resources by fishers. It brings fishers closer to managing these resources and contributes to their concern for maintaining and reproducing stocks. It creates a responsibility for the fisher because the individual transferable quota associates a quota with a fishing licence. In the past, quotas were general, fishing was competitive, and so there was less individual responsibility for these resources. That may be the good thing about individual transferable quotas.
The more negative aspect is that these quotas do increase the value of the licences, which results in higher prices and the concentration of licences that we currently see.