The European Fisheries Commission has ordered big cuts in fish catches that will affect Irish crews fishing in deeper waters off the west and northwest coasts.
Fisheries Ministers meeting in Brussels accepted scientific advice that deep-sea stocks needed conservation to protect them.
The Minister for the Marine, John Browne, said the scientists had called for significant cuts that had to be accepted to strengthen conservation, but there would still be reasonable catches left for Irish vessels specialising in deep-sea fishing.
The commission has adopted a new approach to setting fish quotas - rather than all decisions being made in the week before Christmas, deep-sea quotas were set yesterday evening.
The whitefish allocations - herring, cod, mackerel and so on - will be decided in December.
Fears over deep-sea stocks have led to sharp cuts in catches allowed for next year.
Ireland's total share is down from 1,416 tonnes this year to 902 tonnes next year and the fishery for orange roughy will probably disappear, with the allowed catch by Irish boats reduced from 255 tonnes to only 43 next year.
Fisheries ministers have also agreed on the introduction of a new compulsory system of electronic reporting of catches by fishing boats on a daily basis, though it will be up to two years before the system is fully operational.
