Brussels, 22/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Fisheries Ministers of the Member States of the EU were making their way, on Monday evening, towards an agreement on measures to reduce accidental by-catches of small cetaceans (dolphins and porpoises). As EUROPE went to press, the Council was examining a Presidency compromise text (see EUROPE of 16 March 2004, p.12) on the obligatory use of sonar equipment to repel small cetaceans from fishing nets, the Commission seemed ready to agree an exemption for small boats, but not to exclude certain areas (as called for by France and the United Kingdom); - the Presidency proposed postponing until 2008 or 2009 the ban on drift nets in the Baltic Sea (compared to 2007 in the initial proposal); - the Fifteen were looking for a simpler solution for checks than having national observers on board boats to observe catches.