The Scottish fishing industry has welcomed an increase in quotas following talks in Brussels.

The new deal will allow fishermen to increase their intake from 16 out of 23 key Scottish stocks including cod, saithe and mackerel.

The expansion of fishing opportunities is estimated to be worth £47m to the industry.

Deals negotiated in Brussels over the past two days included increases of £12m for Norway lobster and £5m for monkfish.

Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, said: "Overall, this is a positive outcome for Scotland which underlines the sustainable fishing practices adopted by our fleet.

"The agreement will bring welcome economic stability to Scottish fishing communities over the coming year."

The talks also won additional flexibility on where vessels are able to fish.

This will remove current constraints around fishing for northern shelf haddock, and provide more choice over fishing grounds, resulting in reduced costs for vessels.

The negotiations secured an increase of 1500 tonnes in the UK's Arctic cod quota, which will be available for swaps with other countries to bring in additional quota of stocks that may be running short in the North Sea, such as cod, haddock, whiting and saithe.

Industry figures say this is particularly important with more stocks coming under the discard ban in 2017.

Mr Armstrong said: "Although the outcome of the talks is good for the fishing fleet, we are concerned about the potential difficulties caused by more species coming into the discard ban regime.

"Fishermen hate discarding but there is the worrying potential of mixed species fisheries closing down early because the catch allocation of one type of fish has been fully utilised.

"This is something that will have to be monitored very closely over the coming months."

The deal was welcomed by the UK and Scottish governments, with the UK Government fisheries minister George Eustice underscoring Brexit as an opportunity to make more progress on fish stocks management.

Eustice said: "To deliver a profitable fishing industry, we must fish sustainably now and in the future.

"This year we were able to agree further increases in quotas on some valuable species as stocks have recovered, especially in the North Sea."

He added: "As we prepare to leave the European Union we have an opportunity to build on progress made and improve the management of fish stocks in our waters, but we will continue to follow the principles of fishing sustainably and ending the wasteful practice of discarding fish."

Fergus Ewing, the Scottish Government's rural economy minister, called the conclusion of the talks "very satisfactory".

He said: "The fishing industry is a vital part of our rural economy which is why it's good news that we've secured crucial increases for the majority of our key species.

"These deals are worth around £47m to the industry.

"To achieve improved deals for 16 out of 23 of our key stocks is a very satisfactory outcome for the Scottish fleet and one that's been strongly welcomed by the senior industry representatives in Brussels."

Ewing added: "I'm delighted that our long-standing calls to give vessels greater flexibility around where they can fish, have been answered, and from 2017 our fleet will be able to make use of this new provision.

"In these uncertain times I'm pleased that issues around Brexit did not compromise our negotiating position. We worked constructively to put people's livelihoods first, and, founding on the scientific advice, helped secure a good deal that can be well received by Scots fishermen."