(BOULOGNE SUR MER) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Saturday he wants to use his country's upcoming presidency of the European Union to thrash out an agreement on changing the fishing quotas system.

Faced with rising complaints from French fishermen about both the quotas and the high price of diesel, Sarkozy travelled to the major fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer on the north coast to meet fishing representatives, alongside Fisheries Minister Michel Barnier.

"The first thing is this business of quotas: we have to finish (with this controversy), and we have an opportunity to get out of this when France takes on the European Union presidency from July 1 to December 31," Sarkozy told 300 fishermen.

"It is an opportunity to engage in a very profound, very strong dialogue with the European Commission," he added. "We have to stop having on one side the scientists and the fishermen on the other, because the ones with the biggest interest in saving the resource is fishermen."

"At the moment, when all the world is saying the resource (fish) is returning, there must be a response more supple than quotas, not least payments and fishing zones."

Adopted in December, the fishing quotas for 2008 have been widely condemned by the French fishing industry, not least for demanding a 44 percent cut in the national herring and whiting catches, and 56 percent for mackerel.

Sarkozy and Barnier visited two trawlers, and listened to the gripes of fishermen.

"Every year, I wonder what lies in store for us," complained Bruno Margollet, captain of one of the boats, referring to December's annual decision on quotas.

"The president of the EU Commission is coming at the end of the month ... I will speak to him," promised the president.

For his part, Barnier promised to campaign for three-year quotas, which would give "a little more predictability."

The number of French fishing vessels has fallen by nearly 40 percent in the last 15 years, to 5,346 harboured in mainland France -- that comprises about nine percent of the total European fleet.

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