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This article examines the social consequences of fishing management through individually transferable quota systems, hereby termed ITQ. The rise of the ITQ to the status of a privileged management tool, despite persistent scientific controversies, may be explained by profound economic and institutional mutations accompanying the internationalisation of fishing. As past experiences however demonstrate, the ITQ practice modifies production relations to the extent of provoking the breakdown of social contracts specific to the sector. The implications of the tool for fishing-dependent societies in developing countries thus need to be envisaged with caution.