BRUSSELS, January 29, 2014 — EU diplomats backed a 6.5 billion euro ($8.9 billion) deal to help fishermen adapt to new rules, ending years of debate over reforms of the European Union's fishing policy aimed at ending decades of over-fishing.
The funding agreement covers the years 2014 to 2020 and is meant to fund equipment, such as new nets that allow smaller fish to escape, that could help replenish stocks.
Representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission and member states agreed the deal in outline late on Tuesday as the final plank of a set of fisheries reforms that member states have been debating since 2009.
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