Falling cod stocks have prompted fears

But Ross Finnie said negotiations in Brussels would not be easy and warned opposition politicians not to offer "glib solutions".

It comes as Scots fishing vessels have protested in the Belgian port of Antwerp ahead of the quota talks.

And in the Commons the prime minister accused SNP Westminster leader Alex Salmond of "deception" on the issue.

Speaking during a debate in the Scottish Parliament, Mr Finnie said: "I believe we can secure better outcomes - better outcomes for business, better outcomes for fishing businesses and better outcomes for our fishing communities.

Next week will not be easy and it makes me really somewhat angry when people think there are glib solutions and easy fixes Ross Finnie Scottish fisheries minister

"There are some positive signs of stock recovery. We can build on those and they must be taken in consideration next week."

He added: "Next week will not be easy and it makes me really somewhat angry when people think there are glib solutions and easy fixes. There are none."

Scientists say stocks are at an all time low and want an outright ban on cod fishing in the North Sea, Irish Sea and off the west coast of Scotland.

EU Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler said his plan was to avoid the complete closure of some fisheries next year by stepping up protection measures.

Mike Park of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association said: "We've had one round of decommissioning this year, next year the next round will be called bankruptcy, unless we get this right."

Mr Finnie said the talks would have to consider the fact that while cod stocks were still "well outside safe limits" others stocks, including haddock, herring and mackerel, were quite healthy.

Regional call

And he said EU negotiators would also have to consider the efforts Scotland had already made, including a major decommissioning scheme to take vessels out of the industry altogether.

But SNP fishing spokesman Richard Lochhead demanded the scrapping of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) to return control over fishing policy to Scotland.

Scots Tory fisheries spokesman Ted Brocklebank reasserted Michael Howard's weekend promise, in Fife, to exit the CFP and deliver a "flourishing" industry.

Mr Brocklebank accused the Scottish Executive of managing the run-down of the fishing industry.

Opposition parties want regional management

He said: "They have blindly accepted EU fisheries commissioner Franz Fischler's view that the UK industry must contract to allow the fleets of other EU member states to expand."

But Scottish Green Party leader Robin Harper angrily denounced the two main opposition parties, describing calls for increased fishing quotas as "lunacy" and "a destructive response to an environmental crisis".

At prime minister's questions in Westminster Mr Salmond asked whether Mr Blair would be speaking to the Scottish fishing industry.

He said fishermen saw the European convention "strengthening the hold of the disastrous Common Fisheries Policy".

Mr Blair replied: "The way to represent Scotland's vital interests is to go to the European Council, to negotiate our positions properly, including on issues like energy, but not to peddle what is a complete deception that somehow withdrawal from the CFP is going to help the fisheries industry in Scotland or in the UK.