French fishermen maintained a blockade of Channel ports yesterday, disrupting ferry traffic to Britain, to demand an increase in EU quotas for cod catches.

Fishing boats blocked the entrance to the ports of Calais, Dunkirk and Boulogne as fishing union representatives met with Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier in Paris.

"We are going to ask to be allowed to work during the eight months that are left (of the year)," fisherman Jose Huleux told reporters. "We are repeating our demands for extra quotas."

Blockading ports is a time-honoured tactic by French fishermen and there were several episodes last year to demand help with spiralling fuel prices.

Apart from one ferry, let through at Dunkirk to avoid sanitary problems among the hundreds of passengers aboard, ferry traffic with Britain was completely blocked, according to a spokesman for P&O Ferries.

"They (the fishing vessels) string themselves across the entrance to the port and that's it, we can't go anywhere," he told BBC radio.

For years, scientists have said cod is so badly overfished in EU waters that it is in danger of extinction, and that strict catch limits are the only way to help stocks to recover.

Mr Barnier has offered to discuss financial support for fishing boats, but the government gave no suggestion the limits could change.

"We have to manage the resource over time to protect our country's fishing industry," government spokesman Luc Chatel told France 2 television.