The European Commission has scaled back its demand for drastic cuts in cod fishing quotas to halt a collapse in stocks, but insisted on tough limits on numbers of days that national fleets may spend at sea.
Faced with the annual haggling over permitted catches, with cod stocks at their lowest recorded levels, the EU executive had originally recommended cuts of up to 79 per cent in cod quotas to ward off extinction.
But EU Fisheries Commissioner Mr Franz Fischler said he would be able to recommend a 65 per cent cut in the TAC (total allowable catch) for cod, as long as ministers agreed to hefty reductions in the number of days vessels could spend at sea.
Other whitefish of which EU stocks were dangerously low -such as hake, haddock and whiting - could also see less drastic quota cuts than originally proposed, he said.
"Only if member states accept the limitation of fishing effort can we be flexible on quotas," Mr Fischler told reporters before opening a series of meetings with each of the 15 EU member states.
Mr Fischler has threatened emergency action, such as closing off certain species to fishing altogether, if ministers fail to agree some degree of curb on fleet activity this week.
Ministers expect a marathon negotiating session. Apart from quotas and emergency action needed on cod, the agenda includes reform of the bloc's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).