In what has become a Brussels tradition, the ministers faced a night of marathon negotiations closely watched by fishermen and environmental groups.

One of the main issues facing the ministers concerns discarded catches.

Non-governmental organisations estimate that 40 to 60 percent of the fish caught are thrown back because they are either the wrong size or species, or fishermen do not have quotas for them.

"Currently the EU does not have a policy to deal with the huge amount of unwanted fish thrown overboard at sea, known as discards," the group Oceana said in a statement ahead of the meeting.

"The discard problem is a direct consequence of bycatch -- defined as an accidental and therefore involuntary event. In reality (it is) the result of unselective and indiscriminate fishing methods," it added.

NGOs argue the quotas set each year by ministers are deceptive because they only reflect the fish brought to shore and not those thrown away beforehand.

"We are witnessing a scandalous wasting of millions of tonnes of fish each year in the North Sea. That must end," said WWF Germany campaigner Karoline Schacht.

She said in the case of cod that "for each fish caught another is thrown away."

The European Commission has called for fishing of cod, haddock and whiting to be banned in waters to the west of Scotland, where stocks are particulary low.

It has also proposed cutting quotas of haddock elsewhere by up to 25 percent and recommended an outright ban on catching deep sea sharks and keeping a ban in place on anchovy fishing in the Bay of Biscay.

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