THE battle began yesterday to keep the region's fishing fleet afloat in the face of European demands to slash North Sea quotas by 80 per cent.

Trawlermen who sail from ports on the east coast say the drastic cuts in the amount they can catch are unecessary and will wreck their livelihoods.

The European Commission is adamant that stocks of cod, haddock, and whiting have been devastated by years of over-fishing and that severe controls are the only way to preserve them.

Fisheries Minister Elliott Morley has taken up the British cause, warning Brussels that the UK's fleet will be put in jeopardy.

As a compromise, he has offered to make sure the worst affected areas of the North Sea are protected, despite trawlermen warning that they would still face being driven out of business.

Talks are scheduled for the rest of this week and it seems unlikely that British fishermen will escape unscathed.

The European Commission will be told that scientific advice is that fishing for cod, haddock, and whiting is halted completely in the North Sea, Irish Sea, and off the west coast of Scotland.

It says that an 80 per cent reduction is already a compromise.

The EC plan also includes financial help for the worst-hit areas to help soften the blow, with retraining schemes promised for fishermen prepared to seek out new careers.

Twenty thousand jobs are thought to be at risk in Britain alone, with the cost to the UK economy estimated at £1bn.

Prime Minister Tony Blair took the country's case to the European Commission president, Romano Prodi, at the Copenhagen summit last Friday, insisting that the British fleet could not survive such stringent measures.