New EU fishing quotas are an early Christmas present for South West fishermen, an industry leader has said.
Under a compromise deal, the European Commission agreed to allow more fish to be caught by fishing fleets next year than it had originally envisaged.
Jim Portus, of the South West Fish Producers Organisation, said it was a satisfactory result, and "brilliant" for Brixham in Devon in particular.
"For 2005 at least the news is good and Christmas has come early," he said.
Brixham's fishermen said they had suffered a 60% cut in their fleet during the past 10 years.
Mr Portus said a "substantial increase" in Dover sole quota would mean an extra �1.5m for craft sailing out of Brixham and would also benefit boats from Plymouth and Newlyn in Cornwall.
There were also improvements in quotas of hake, angler fish and megrim sold, which would be of "significant benefit" to Newlyn, he added.
He said he hoped it was the start of a "rosy future" for the industry, adding that the region had taken "some severe knocks" in the past, with many boats scrapped.
He said: "Twelve months ago we were in the depths of despair, but we struggled through."
"Scientists were saying it was dire straits, and we were saying we were catching a lot of this fish."
"Finally, they have agreed with us and allowed us a massive 188% increase in the total allowable catch, from 300 tonnes to 865 tonnes." he added.
To get the quota they had to agree to a limit of 20 days at days at sea per month which was "a price worth paying."
Radical measures
UK fisheries minister and Exeter Labour MP Ben Bradshaw helped to negotiate the deal during a 20-hour meeting with his European counterparts
Mr Portus said that Mr Bradshaw had done "a good job for Devon and Cornwall".
However, Mr Bradshaw pointed out that the government and EU were not ruling out further radical measures in the future to protect stocks.
But he also said that quotas changes on different species would help fishermen around the country.
He said: "On some of the species that we've got big increases in quotas, on prawns and monkfish for example, those are species from which we will benefit, not just in Scotland, but also the South West."
But environmentalists say the deal will not do any good for the long-term prospects of the industry.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said it was "shocked" that proposals to close fishing areas had been shelved.
It said stocks of cod were dangerously low and that a "massive increase in political will" was needed to solve the "fisheries crisis".
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Twelve months ago we were in the depths of despair, but we struggled through
UK fishing's decline
