BRUSSELS -- EU fishing ministers were struggling Thursday to to strike a last-ditched accord to rescue plunging fish shocks amid bitter opposition for countries who fear devastation for coastal communities.

But there was little immediate sign of a breakthrough in the talks, centered on plans to slash fishing of key culinary staples such as cod by up to 80 percent.

"I think we'll still be here at the same time tomorrow regarding the same issues," said Irish Fishing Minister Dermot Ahern, as deep divisions remained between EU between states with huge fishing fleets and others.

Negotiations on fishing quotas give rise every December to hard bargaining between member states, keen to net the biggest catches in the following year.

But the talks have turned into an all-out clash this year after scientists and the European Commission warned that deep cuts were needed in fishing of cod to avoid wiping it out altogether.

German Fisheries Minister Renate Kuenast said she understood that the French and the Spanish were warning that "perhaps there won't be an agreement" on the plans to reform the widely-contested Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). But she said: "Everyone has to move. I have moved a long distance, so the others have to move as well."

The Danish EU presidency, which has been hosting the meeting in Brussels since Monday, presented compromise proposals Thursday after a day of stock-taking bilateral talks on Wednesday.

"We recognize the need to show a little flexibility," said a Danish source, adding that the new proposals tempered the size of the cuts in quotas allowed to fishermen in sea areas off Northwestern Europe.

The European Commission says that after years of over-fishing, drastic changes are needed to the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which has been blamed for sparking the present crisis.

Otherwise the industry is facing the disappearance from European waters of several species including haddock, hake and cod, a culinary staple in Britain and Ireland, the EU's executive has warned.

The commission has accused the so-called "friends of fishing" -- France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain -- of refusing to compromise.

French Minister Herve Gaymard is seeking more public subsidies for fishermen hit by the measures, according to sources close to the talks.

The European Commission has proposed canceling the subsidies from January 1. But the Danish presidency has proposed extending the aid until the end of 2004 for boats of less than 100 tons.

Earlier this week Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler said there was no alternative to quota cuts and CFP reform, which envisages more than 8,000 trawlers being taken out of operation with EU aid.

Britain is also opposed to drastic cuts that would see EU quotas for cod catches slashed by up to 80 percent. A 40-percent cut in flatfish catches and a 10-percent cut in the industrial fisheries segment is also foreseen by the commission.

Earlier this month French fishermen brought chaos to the English Channel in coordinated protests against EU plans to radically cut fishing quotas.

They used trawlers to block the northern French ports of Boulogne-sur-mer, Calais and Dunkirk, halting ferry services and harassing vessels plying the waters between France and Britain.