EU ministers agreed overnight on a phased implementation of a ban on fishermen throwing their catch overboard to comply with quotas, a change that the leader of the negotiations early Wednesday called an about-face in fishing policy.
Under EU rules, fishermen must comply with quotas that limit them to a certain species of fish or an overall amount. Non-quota fish are regularly discarded, often dead, a practice condemned for overfishing and wastefulness.
EU agriculture and fisheries ministers agreed that by-catch cannot be eliminated and a certain amount must be allowed, but the amount would be reduced each year.
In five years, 7 per cent of unwanted fish caught at sea may be thrown back into the ocean as the ban is implemented gradually in various European waters through 2019, said Simon Coveney, Ireland's agriculture and fisheries minister, who chaired the meeting.
The agreement "is going to transform the way in which the European Union catches fish," he said.
Only Sweden objected to the compromise.
Negotiations would now begin with the European Parliament, which must approve the new policy. Those lawmakers pushed for reform and could demand greater changes.
"It was on a knife's edge right until the end on whether there would be any agreement at all," German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said.
EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki spoke of a "completely new reality."
She said she wants in April to discuss the possibility of providing EU money to fishermen to help with the investments that they would have to make because of the new regulations. Such investments could include buying new nets to catch specific fish.