BRUSSELS, Feb 27 (Reuter) - The European Commission has made a fresh bid to break the deadlock over controversial plans for sharp cuts in fish catches in coming years to protect dwindling stocks, a Commission fisheries spokesman said on Thursday. European Union fishing nations have bitterly attacked the proposal presented by EU Fisheries Commissioner Emma Bonino in May 1996, saying the planned cuts were excessive and that more should be done to cushion the impact on fishing communities. But unless EU fisheries ministers hammer out a compromise when they meet in Luxembourg on April 15-16, fishermen will no longer receive EU aid for scrapping vessels and leaving the industry. "It's a question of take it or leave it," Commission fisheries spokesman Filippo di Robilant quoted Bonino as saying of the new three-pronged approach. Firstly, member states will be given responsibility for drawing up national fleet reduction programmes. "The Commission no longer wants to be co-author in preparing the plans," Di Robilant

said, adding member states would now be given maximum flexibility. Secondly, the EU's executive would have a bigger role in monitoring the fishing reduction programmes to make sure they were effectively implemented and permanent. In other words it would ensure that fishing vessels were laid up. Thirdly, renewal of the EU fishing fleet, necessary for its long-term future, would be strictly controlled to prevent any increase in surplus capacity. A formula would be fixed for each type of new fishing vessel under which a certain number of old vessels must be laid up depending on the type of boat and fishery. But initial reactions from member states were sceptical. "Lots of questions still have to be asked," said a fisheries official from a northern state, adding that it was unclear how the fleet renewal formula would work. The official added that a move to raise the fishing reduction rate for the most threatened stocks to 30 percent, from a November Irish compromise rate of 20 percent, would be strongly resiste

d. Brussels originally sought a 40 percent cut. Several member states also argue that data on fish stocks, justifying sharp cuts, was becoming outdated. An official from a southern member state said that greater flexibility over fishing cuts would benefit countries that failed to meet reduction targets under previous programmes. But another fisheries official gave a cautious welcome. "It's a move in the right direction but needs to be explained," the official said, noting experts will pursue discussions on March 6.