LUXEMBOURG, Oct 14 (Reuter) - European Union fisheries ministers met on Monday to consider controversial plans to slash catches by up to 40 percent over the next six years and guarantee the fishing industry's long-term future. EU Fisheries Commissioner Emma Bonino has said scientific evidence showed more drastic cuts were needed, but fisheries ministers, worried about job losses, remained unconvinced. "From my contact with colleagues throughout Europe it wouldn't appear that 40 percent is acceptable," Irish Marine Minister Sean Barrett told reporters before the meeting. But Barrett, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, added that everyone agreed there was a problem and steps were needed to protect dwindling stocks. Barrett said he hoped progress could be made on Monday after which he would meet EU fisheries ministers individually to try to draw up a broadly acceptable package of measures for agreement at the next meeting in November. Loyola de Palacio, Spain's agriculture and fisheries m

inister, emphasised that cuts implemented during the current EU fisheries programme between 1992-96 should be taken into consideration. "Spain has done its duties during this period (1992-92) but some countries haven't done the same," De Palacio told Reuters. Spain has reduced the tonnage of its fishing fleet - the EU's biggest - from 650,000 to 450,000 tonnes in the last 10 years. "It's not a problem of 40 percent but of certain catches of certain classes of fish," the minister added. The EU's executive Commission says that catches of the most endangered stocks, such as cod, haddock and sardines, should be cut by 40 percent but for others such as tropical tuna, Baltic herring and sprats, no cuts were envisaged.