The Scottish government and the European Commission are on a collision course after plans were presented in Brussels yesterday to cut catches of key fish in the North Sea and off the West of Scotland by up to 25 per cent next year.

The proposed reductions, based on scientific advice, are designed to give breathing space to allow stocks that have been heavily overfished time to recover. They will fall most heavily on the West coast where fishing specifically for cod, haddock and whiting would be banned and herring catches cut by a quarter.

The commission, arguing that the slight recovery seen in North Sea cod stocks last year has not been sustained, is pressing for a similar 25 per cent reduction in available catches throughout 2009.

Presenting the proposal for total allowable fish catches in all European waters next year, Joe Borg, the Fisheries Commissioner, gave warning that the balance of the marine ecosystems on which fisheries depend had become seriously disturbed.

He said: “To nurture them back to their former productivity will often mean fishing less today so that fish stocks have a chance to recover. I know this will be hard on the fleets affected. But there is no other choice.”

The prospect of lower catches will be a further blow to an industry that has had to cope with spiralling fuel prices for most of the year and governments will be under strong pressure to scale back the cuts, as they invariably do, when they decide the final ceilings during marathon negotiations just before Christmas.

Richard Lochhead, the Scottish Fisheries Minister, immediately rejected the proposal as draconian and “utterly insensitive and blinkered” and cautioned that closing fishing grounds “means closing fishing communities as well”.

He confirmed that the Scottish government would strongly resist Mr Borg's plan. “Instead, we are proposing alternative ways to preserve stocks and allow healthy stocks to be fished. We will be seeking an increase in some of the West coast stocks quota,” he said.

Similar opposition came from the Scottish Fishermen's Federation. Bertie Armstrong, the chief executive, said that his members understood and shared the aim of ensuring threatened stocks have time to recover. He insisted that the blunt approach of simply limiting the overall amount of fish that could be caught had not worked in the past and was unlikely to in the future.

“We will be offering realistic solutions based on a more intelligent approach to fisheries management,” he said.

That approach will be based on the Conservation Credits Scheme, which the Scottish government and fishing industry have pioneered this year. This, say its supporters, provides for a more flexible and sophisticated approach to stock management than the traditional combination of total allowable catches and limiting the number of days at sea.

Mr Armstrong said: “It includes real-time closures and a carefully targeted effort control scheme that

we believe are helping stocks to recover while at the same time offering fishermen the chance to earn a living.

“It provides incentives for good behaviour and penalties for bad.”

Overfishing of mackerel carried out by Icelandic boats has been described as a scandal by the Scottish government. BBC Scotland said that the Icelandic industry took five times its allowance from one section of sea this year. Fishing leaders accused Iceland of a “smash and grab” approach.

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