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The Fisheries Management Act consolidated most of the existing legislation on fisheries management, including Act No. 38/1990 on Fisheries Management. The Act states that fish resources are the property of the nation and that the policy objective is to promote conservation and efficient utilization of these resources to ensure stable employment and settlement. The Act provides the legal basis for the Minister to establish, through regulations, total allowable catches (TACs) for individual marine stocks which are allocated to individual vessels under the individual transferable quota (ITQ) systems. There are two quota systems: the general system; and a system that applies to small boats (less than 15 GRT) which may only fish with hand lines or longlines. The Ministry reserves part of the TACs for fishing companies that have been affected by significant shocks due to a fall in catches or quotas and for vessels from disfavoured areas that are heavily dependent on fishing.

The MRFI (Marine and Freshwater Research Institute) is responsible for assessing marine stocks and these assessments are reviewed by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Based on these assessments, the Ministry establishes a TAC (total allowable catch) for each species.

For some fish stocks that are shared with other countries, international and/or bilateral agreements may apply and under them Iceland has a quota share:
• Iceland is a contracting party to the Northeast Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) that administers stocks in the international area in the Northeast Atlantic. Icelandic vessels fish blue whiting, Northeast Atlantic mackerel, Atlanto-Scandian (Norwegian spring-spawning) herring, and deep-sea redfish in the NEAFC convention area;
• Iceland has an agreement with the Russian Federation and Norway for fishing cod in the Barents Sea, subject to a TAC;
• Iceland is a contracting party to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) and has a quota share for East Atlantic blue fin tuna; and
• Iceland is a contracting party to the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) and has a share in the northern shrimp catch.

In addition to the TAC and ITQ (individual transferable quota) system, a number of other effort and gear restrictions apply including permanent closure of nursery areas; closure of spawning areas for cod during the spawning period; temporary closure of areas with excess juveniles; a 12-mile exclusion limit for large trawlers; and mesh-size limits and other equipment-related measures to reduce by-catch and catch of juveniles.

Discards of commercial species are prohibited and all catches of commercial species must be retained and landed. Furthermore, vessel owners may not leave port to fish unless they have an adequate quota for the trip.

Under Act No. 74/2012, vessel operators must pay a fishing fee to offset the cost of services provided by the State and as a tax on the exploitation of marine resources. (…)

The unique geography and natural terrain provide Iceland with an unusual energy profile. Iceland is the world's largest green energy producer per capita and also has the world's highest share of renewable energy in any national total energy budget. Currently, hydro and geothermal sources supply almost all of Iceland's electricity and 85% of Iceland's total consumption of primary energy (Chart 4.6); the remainder comprises fossil fuels (refined oil), which are used entirely for transport and fisheries.

Hydropower is responsible for nearly three quarters of electricity generation, while the rest is produced through geothermal means. Around 80% of the electricity generated is consumed by the industrial sector (mainly aluminium); residential consumption is around 5%. Around 90% of space heating is through direct geothermal energy.

Companies owned by the State or municipalities dominate the electricity sector. Landsvirkjun, which is wholly state-owned, is the largest energy company in Iceland, providing approximately 75% of all the electricity produced in Iceland. Furthermore, Landsvirkjun is responsible for more than 96% of all hydro generation in Iceland, and its share in total geothermal electricity generation is around 11%.

At the time of the last review, the authorities were in the process of preparing a comprehensive energy strategy for 2020 that was to be released in 2012. The salient features of the strategy were: replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy; following an environmentally protective and precautionary approach in hydroelectric and geothermal energy production; supporting diversified industry with an emphasis on ecologically beneficial high-tech industry; sustainable utilization of all energy sources; and encouraging better energy utilization. The strategy was not concluded in 2012 as planned. The authorities stated that they are currently in the process of preparing a new comprehensive energy strategy, which they aim to publish in 2018.