By Alex Kirby BBC News Online environment correspondent

Scots ports fear the worst

The Fisheries Minister, Ben Bradshaw, said the negotiations would be taking place against "a difficult background".

His Scottish colleague, Ross Finnie, said nobody should hold to any illusion the talks in Brussels would be easy.

But both ministers said they hoped for some gains for the UK, chiefly a move towards longer-term planning methods.

Mr Bradshaw said: "The council will meet against a difficult backdrop of scientific advice on cod and some other species.

You don't have Fisheries Council meetings where everyone comes away happy Ben Bradshaw

"Our priority is to reach an agreement which will allow the stocks to recover where they're under threat, while maximising opportunities elsewhere.

"There is some good news: the prawn stocks are healthy, haddock are at their highest level for 30 years, and herring and mackerel are in good shape as well. But there is a serious problem with white fish, and with cod in particular."

Scientists say the cod are at a historic low and want a ban on all cod fishing in the North Sea, Irish Sea and off the Scottish west coast.

Mr Bradshaw said: "It's quite clear the European Commission wants agreement in principle on a multi-annual approach, and that's a principle with which we have some sympathy, to avoid the annual rigmarole and horse-trading of the negotiations.

Thinking long-term

"We hope very much if we can get agreement in principle on this, it will let the commission feel it can be a bit more generous on some of the TACs (total allowable catches) and catch quotas."

A "multi-annual approach" would replace the yearly round of fraught negotiations each December with longer-term agreements designed to allow species to recover, letting the industry adjust more easily to the scientists' warnings.

Cod are at their lowest ever level

Mr Finnie said: "The cod are outwith their safe biological limit. It would be irresponsible to ignore the scientists' advice."

The commission said last week it wanted tighter restrictions on cod fishing, but would not demand a total ban.

Mr Bradshaw told BBC News Online: "We hope we can look forward to an increase in TACs and quotas on haddock and prawns by separating those fisheries from cod.

"I get the impression the argument we've been making for some years has now been accepted by the commission - that you can have a prawn fishery with a very low bycatch [unintentional catch] of cod."

A fisheries scientist told BBC News Online: "People are trying to find out whether there are places, or seasons, where the ratio of cod to haddock is not one to one.

Hope renewed

"Some would say the jury is still out on this. But there's evidence from some areas of the northern North Sea that this approach might work.

"If there were significantly fewer cod, it might be a potential lifeline - but it remains to see how it goes."

Mr Bradshaw said no country ever got 100% of what it wanted out of the negotiations, and told BBC News Online: "You don't have Fisheries Council meetings where everyone comes away happy.

"A satisfactory outcome for us would be agreement on the long-term approach to setting TACs and quotas.

"And if we can persuade the commission to look again at some Western Channel and Irish Sea fisheries, and to decouple stocks where possible so we can see more fishing effort on haddock and prawns, that would be a good outcome for us, and a sustainable one."