EUROPEAN fisheries ministers are next week set to outlaw the wasteful slaughter of hundreds of dolphins and porpoises caught up in the ''walls of death'' drift nets used by tuna fleets.

The ban, if implemented, would mark the end of the largest remaining fishery in the world where drift nets are still widely used.

The huge fleets from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea were withdrawn from the Pacific in 1992 in the wake of a United Nations' moratorium. That prompted the European Union to ban nets over 2.5km but this still left French boats operating off Biscay and an Italian fleet in the Mediterranean.

No Scottish boats are involved in the drift net tuna fishery. Small numbers sail out of Cornwall and others from Ireland. Spanish vessels use line catching which is more labour-intensive but doesn't harm dolphins and porpoises.

The Luxembourg meeting on Monday will be chaired by the UK Fisheries Minister Dr Jack Cunningham and officials believe there is sufficient support to see a ban through.

The only quibbles may be whether it is delayed a year or phased in over a longer period, and over compensation payable to those boats who will go out of business.

Drift nets effectively act as a curtain over the seabed, indiscriminately trapping all types of fish and larger mammals. The ban will not extend to the Baltic where drift nets are used to catch salmon, nor inshore fisheries in the north of England since neither compromises other species.

Animal welfare and environmental groups last night welcomed the prospect of a ban. ''This is one step which is long overdue,'' said Les Ward, director of Advocates for Animals. ''These nets are walls of death which have been killing huge numbers of dolphins and porpoises for years and years.''

The meeting will also discuss plans for tougher enforcement measures and increased co-operation between national agencies responsible for them.