Fishing industry representatives have welcomed the outcome of overnight talks in Brussels on EU fish conservation measures.
The UK government said the deal was good for “the health of the seas”, while EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Daminaki was “broadly satisfied”.
The fishing industry had faced the threat of further automatic cuts as part of the EU’s Cod Plan.
It argued the cuts were unnecessary because of a doubling of cod stocks.
The UK fisheries minister Richard Benyon said the deal was based on sound scientific advice, even though many environmental scientists argue that quotas are consistently set too high.
Scottish Fishermen’s Federation Chief Executive Bertie Armstrong said: “We were facing the very real danger of the decision-making being caught in legal red tape that would have caused immense economic hardship and done nothing to aid fish stock conservation and sustainable harvesting.
“Fishing effort in Scotland has been slashed by almost 70 per cent over the last 10 years and we were quite simply at a stage where the fleet could not sustain any more cuts.
“These were hard fought negotiations but on balance the package of measures agreed brings a degree of stability for the Scottish fleet in 2013.”
Fishermen welcome talks outcome http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64848000/jpg/_64848826_netsafp.jpg
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