BRUSSELS, Dec 21: EU ministers have struck a last-ditch compromise deal to reform Europe’s fishing industry, after marathon talks, slashing allowed catches of cod to rescue dwindling stocks of the species.

But the accord, reached late Friday after marathon talks, was opposed by two EU states, including heavyweight Germany - who thought the measures did not go far enough, while critics in the other camp warned the deal would have a devastating effect on already hard-pressed fishing communities.

This agreement takes into account the situation concerning threatened fish stocks, and ensures a sustainable fishery in the future, said Danish Fisheries Minister Mariann Fischer Boel, who chaired the meeting.

The accord, reached after five days of talks in Brussels, included a temporary cut in cod quotas of 45 percent, much smaller than the 80 percent reduction proposed by the European Commission.

Also under the agreement, limits will be set on the amount of time that trawlers can remain out at sea. Government subsidies for new boats will also be cut after 2004 and face rigorous conditions until then.

Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler, who proposed the 80 percent cut last month, trumpetted the deal as unprecedented.

We succeeded in agreeing on a level which allows us to assert that the stocks should be able to build up to their past levels, he told reporters after the deal was struck.

But German Fisheries Minister Renate Kuenast, who voted against the deal along with her Swedish counterpart, expressed disappointment.

It is... clear that on the basis of scientific evidence, in particular about cod stocks, this was not enough for me... After this week I have a sense of how difficult it will be to build up stocks again, she said. The deal was also attacked from the other flank for threatening the livelihood of fishing communities.

These proposals are absolutely devastating. They are worse than anyone feared, said Richard Lockhead, opposition spokesman on fisheries in the Scottish parliament.

The European Commission says that after years of over-fishing, drastic changes are needed to the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which has been blamed for sparking the present crisis.

Negotiations on fishing quotas give rise every December to hard bargaining between member states, keen to net the biggest catches in the following year.

But the talks have turned into an all-out clash this year after scientists and the EU executive warned that deep cuts were needed in fishing of cod to avoid wiping it out altogether.

The accord was struck after down-to-the-wire talks on a range of detailed issues, notably proposals to slash the numbers of days per month that fishermen are allowed at sea, and public subsidies for new fishing vessels.

Concessions were made to the so-called “friends of fishing” — France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Greece — on key points including public subsidies to maintain and modernize fleets.

The final agreement allowed such subsidies, for ships of up to 400 tons, to continue until the end of 2004, although conditional on the withdrawal of old boats.

The commission had originally proposed to stop all public aid for building new vessels from January 2003, but this plan was opposed by the fishing-friendly states.

The agreement agreed a temporary cut in cod fisheries of 45 per cent from February 1, 2003, pending a long-term “recovery plan” to be implemented from July 1. The commission will present proposals for this before mid-February, with the aim of having them agreed by the end of March, said a statement.—AFP