The European Commission is unveiling plans for broad changes to halt a "spiral of decline" in the fishing industry.
The latest plans involve a comprehensive vessel-scrapping programme, an end to subsidies to increase fishing capacity, much tighter enforcement of fishing limits and closer consultation with industry leaders in future.
The commission says the fishing fleet is still 40 per cent too big for the available fish stocks, most of which are close to collapse.
A Commission Green Paper admits that conservation measures have not been effective or selective enough to protect stocks and marine ecosystems.
It amounts to an indictment of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), introduced in 1983 to carve up Europe's fishing waters. The CFP brought in EU-imposed annual catch restrictions on national fleets, in the interests of conservation.
For nearly 20 years, trawlermen have been told to cut catches and limit their days at sea, as efforts to conserve stocks have become more and more desperate.
PA