EU fisheries ministers are continuing protracted talks on the reform of Europe's fishing industry after nearly a week negotiations.
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Fisheries Commissioner Mr Franz Fischler
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According to a spokesman for the Department of Marine, who is accompanying the Minister for the Marine Mr Dermot Ahern, talks are still in session and "none of the major issues have been resolved". This is despite some progress on a number of issues.
"Nothing is absolutely tied down. We are still here fighting hard for the Irish position", the spokesman told ireland.com.
Reports from Brussels indicate that the Danish EU presidency tabled a new compromise proposal which, it is hoped, will end the five-day deadlock.
The new proposals are said to contain concessions 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.
According to a copy of the draft compromise, the EU could continue until December 2004 to subsidise the construction new fishing vessels of up to 400 tonnes, up from 100 tonnes earlier in the week.
In another concession, the EU presidency proposed cutting the number of old boats which would have to be retired for every newly-funded vessel. In concrete terms, for every ten new boats, 15 old ones would now have to go, compared to 17 under a previous proposal.
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.
Originally Fisheries Commissioner Mr Franz Fischler had proposed slashing fishing of key species, notably cod, by 80 per cent to prevent the eradication of dwindling stocks. During the talks that figure has been cut conditionally to 65 per cent.
But despite movement in the talks, fishing industry leaders remain deeply concerned about proposals to slash fleets, which they say will wreck livelihoods.
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.
Additional reporting AFP