In this paper, we provide a general background on the latest EU fisheries reform process and analyze the potential effects of rights based management systems on EU fisheries. In the latest reform process, the much debated topic was related to Transferable Fishing Concessions, TFCs. This type of rights based management system will be used in all EU fisheries by 2015. We concentrate on ITQs which are the most well-known rights based management system to be able to understand the potential effects of this policy change. Our analysis suggests that if the sufficient conditions for these mechanisms to be successful are satisfied, this policy change may align the interests of all players in the fishing sector, and hence both economically and biologically sustainable fisheries can be achieved.