Trawlers are to be electronically tagged to curb illegal catches and halt the chronic depletion of fish stocks, EU ministers agreed last night.

Britain will not implement any moves approved by the European Union to reduce fish catches unless the problem of foreign quota-hopper trawlers is resolved, Douglas Hogg, Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, said yesterday.

A cocaine seizure made on board a ship in Cork yesterday may be one of the biggest-ever drug consignments from South America to Europe, Irish customs sources said.

Gardai said they had seized the largest cocaine haul in the history of Ireland over the weekend.

Gardai said they had seized the largest cocaine haul in the history of Ireland over the weekend.

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS IN BRIGHTON

Britain unlawfully banned Spanish trawlers from quota-hopping, the European Court of Justice said yesterday. The decision, which infuriated UK fishermen, will now lead to a multi-million pound compensation claim for loss of earnings by the fishermen.

A Japanese trawler detained in Irish waters was last night escorted by a fisheries-protection vessel to Castletown Bere, County Cork, where its captain faces charges of illegal fishing. The Minato Maru, one of a 40- strong Japanese fleet massed off County Galway, is the first non-EU-registered vessel to be held in Irish waters in two years.

Attempt to drive off Danish fleet is failure, writes Nicholas Schoon

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Fishing lines

Water under the bridge: One of the West Country trawlers which sailed up the Thames yesterday as part of a protest at the EU Common Fisheries policy

London - The Foreign Office played down reports of increased tension with Argentina over fishing rights around the Falklands after a Royal Navy warship was sent to patrol the area for unlicensed trawlers. "We're rather surprised about the way it's being built up into a big confrontation," a spokesman said.

Navy `impounds'