She also stood firm at a later meeting on the future of in-shore fishing despite allegations from opposition parties that she was "ignoring the will of parliament".
Scottish Fisheries Minister Rhona Brankin has said that she will not be swayed into giving fishermen compensation payments for a voluntary tie-up scheme.
Ms Brankin remained defiant as the subject continued to dominate the Scottish Labour Conference in Inverness.
In her speech to delegates on Saturday, the fisheries minister made it clear she would not be pressurised into adopting "a short-term approach" on the industry's future.
She also stood firm at a later meeting on the future of in-shore fishing despite allegations from opposition parties that she was "ignoring the will of parliament".
During one of the most important speeches of her political career, Ms Brankin refused to yield on the question of compensation payments to fishermen involved in a volunatry tie-up scheme.
To cheers and applause, the minister told delegates that the £25m package for decommissioning and restructuring remained the best way of securing the industry's future.
She said Scottish fishermen had requested the package in the first place and, as yet, no one had come forward to criticise it.
'Ignoring the will of parliament'
Ms Brankin said claims for compensation only looked at the "short-term" and she refused to jeopardise the fishing industry's long-term future by giving into them.
But the minister had no time to savour the roars of approval from a friendly conference audience.
Instead she raced off to attend a meeting on the future of the inshore fishing industry organised by the RSPB and Scottish Fishermen's Federation.
During the meeting Ms Brankin was accused of "ignoring the will of parliament" by Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon.
But the minister responded by saying the Conservative Party had never helped any industry - a point later picked up and repeated by Henry McLeish.
Ms Brankin was also accused at the meeting of failing to help struggling fishermen at this point in time.
But she replied: "If we take money away from decommissioning that is a short term measure.
"There are not endless pots of money around in the Scottish Executive.
'Fantastic job'
"That's what ministers have to do. They have to fight for what they think is viable, what they think will make a difference".
But she said that although short-term compensation would not be given, she was still interested in "maintaining dialogue" with fishermen.
If the day had been a struggle for Ms Brankin up until this point it was soon to get better. During his address to conference, First Minister Henry McLeish gave the embattled minister his full backing.
"You've done a fantastic job Rhona," he said.