BC FISH EUROPE/EU, facing deadline, to hold new fish talks

By Janet McEvoy

BRUSSELS, April 11 (Reuter) European and Canadian negotiators will meet again on Wednesday in an effort to resolve their North Atlantic fishing dispute, aware that Canada has threatened action if the day brings no accord.

"It is a very delicate situation," one EU official said on Tuesday.

EU officials said what amounted to a news blackout on Tuesday's talks showed things had come to a crunch.

The EU is seeking to thrash out a position which will satisfy Spain which faces severe pressure from its domestic fishing industry not to cave in over how much Greenland halibut (turbot) it can catch off Newfoundland.

But Spanish diplomats in Brussels hinted for the first time that there might be some flexibility in Madrid's position.

One told told Reuters Television Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez had agreed to a reduced catch which could leave hope for movement in the talks.

Madrid wants the EU to have 13,500 tonnes of the 1995 quota for the disputed area half the entire permitted catch all of which would go to Spain and Portugal.

Spain alone netted more than twice as much as this last year and fears that anything less will threaten the livelihood of thousands of fishermen in its Galicia region.

Two hours of face to face talks on Tuesday with Canada failed to produce an accord and Canada said the onus was now on the 15 EU states to agree among themselves to accept a solution.

The European Commission retorted that it could not negotiate on the basis of an ultimatum, and Spanish officials said any EU flexibility would have to be met by flexibility by Canada.

Canadian External Affairs Department spokeswoman Jennifer Sloan told Reuters the morning's talks concerned only the "presentational aspects" of a deal struck between the two sides last week, notably how to interpret what was agreed.

"We believe we had a negotiated settlement last Wednesday. The EU will certainly have to come back to us...but we will not discuss substance," Sloan said.

Foreign ministers from the EU failed to agree the deal at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, prompting Canadian Fisheries Minister Brian Tobin to threaten possible action by Wednesday to protect fish off his country's shores.

Tobin said Ottawa would "take whatever measures are deemed appropriate to fulfil the primary interest of the government of Canada to ensure the protection of this stock."