Seven European nations, including the UK, are to combine their fishery protection resources in a bid to combat overfishing and save endangered cod stocks.

This is the first time such an initiative has been launched and it will involve inspectors, control vessels and aircraft from the seven coastal states in cross-border inspection and surveillance campaigns until the end of the year.

It has been welcomed by the Scottish Fishermen's Federation (SFF) which has been demanding a level playing field for the catching industry for several years.

"We don't have anything to be frightened of here," said Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the SFF.

"With the registration of buyers and sellers and the comments of the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (that landings of illegal fish by the Scottish fleet had reached negligible levels) we regard ourselves as a compliant industry. It can only be good although the fishermen may regard it as something strange initially to be confronted by fisheries officers from one nation on board another nation's vessel but if you have nothing to hide this must contribute to the level playing field."

The UK will be involved with Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden in the North Sea and adjacent areas and similar plans will be put in place in the other EU fishing areas.

The focus of the plan is the monitoring programme for the recovery of cod stocks, which was established in 2005.