Brussels, 09/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - After striking agreement at the COREPER meeting of Member States' representatives to the EU on Wednesday, the Agriculture and Fisheries Council is expected to adopt without debate on 19 September a new regulation introducing a permanent ban on the use of trawlers in the waters around the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands, to protect coral reefs (see EUROPE 8637 on the European Commission's initial proposal). To date, there has only been a temporary ban on trawling in these parts of the Atlantic Ocean (see EUROPE 8804). Similar bans are in place off the North-West coast of Scotland known as the Darwin Mounds (see EUROPE 8671).