Vessels fish for the equivalent of two and a half days a week

The plan is being backed by Scottish ministers ahead of this week's annual fisheries talks in Brussels.

Previous cuts mean Scottish vessels already fish the equivalent of just two-and-a-half days a week.

Skippers and ministers hope new plans such as closing areas where small fish are found will be taken on board.

Keeping boats tied up in port has proved an effective way of stopping overfishing in the past.

This is precisely the wrong way to try to secure sustainable fisheries Richard Lochhead Scotland's Fisheries Minister

But the European Commission wants to cut the annual days at sea by another quarter for west of Scotland vessels and reduce fishing time by 10% in the North Sea.

The Scottish Government has branded the EC proposal "completely unjustifiable".

Bertie Armstrong from the Scottish Fishermen's Federation said there were new ways in which his members were trying to protect stocks.

These included technical alterations to nets to allow smaller and younger fish to escape.

Another plan, which has been tried on a voluntary basis, involves Scottish fishermen who encounter too many juvenile fish simply stopping fishing in that area.

Mr Armstrong said: "It is looking for a fundamentally different approach and that is to change the behaviour of the fishermen when they fall upon aggregations of fish that should not be caught, they stop doing that, move away and the area is shut for a short period."

Scottish Fisheries Minister Richard Lochhead said: "Scotland is in the lead for conserving cod stocks.

"That has been recognised to some degree with the first increase in cod quotas for 10 years.

"That is a great breakthrough."

'Winning favour'

He added: "We do need the European Commission, other member states in Europe and the UK Government to recognise that and ensure our fleets here in Scotland get a just reward for their sacrifice and leadership."

The minister said that he would strongly resist the "hefty cuts" in days at sea proposed by the commission.

He said: "This is precisely the wrong way to try to secure sustainable fisheries given the range of alternative measures being proposed by Scotland, a number of which are already winning favour in Europe."

The Scottish Government and leaders of the fishing industry hoped that alternative fish conservation measures could instead be adopted in Brussels, such as closing areas to vessels when there are lots of juvenile fish around.

Mark Ruskell, marine and coastal policy officer for RSPB Scotland, said: "Scottish skippers deserve recognition for trying some new measures to avoid cod.