Carol and Theo, sorry to butt in on this argument, and there are a lot of rights and wrongs in fisheries policy. The UK has had its waters reduced but after all they did include the entire sea around Ireland to within sight of people on shore, which has been reallocated to the middle of the Irish Sea and has lost the Atlantic to the west of Ireland. Germany and Denmark have almost no home water fishing rights. The former now needs to go into the Atlantic or Norwegian Sea whereas the latter still has the waters around Greenland. The Spanish fleet question is a moot point, they actually do fish illegally and pay the fines and then blaming their government or the EU is a blunt edged tool for hitting out with. No matter what the Spanish government says, the sizeable fleet still does what it wants. Rather than reading/hearing what are usually media versions that are half-informed and often rather 'nationalist' in essence, try reading FAO reports on the state of the Atlantic. EU treaties fall second in line to international treaties that all countries squabbling at present, including Spain and the UK, have signed. Get rid of those treaties then as fisheries experts have said, in less than a decade fish stocks will be so radically reduced that the oceans will be at risk of becoming filthy, swirling masses of toxic vegetation because there is no animal life left to consume it and hold its growth back. Fish depletion is horrendous, dumping rubbish in the deep water trench has made several species inedible. Anybody who eats any kind of tuna now is asking for trouble because of the cancer causing mercury build up in their systems. Somehow, they have developed a kind of resistance to it, store it and pass it on to predators - which includes us. Now, even fry, grayling, sardines, mackerel and so on that were very, very abundant and swam in great shoals that were often up to nearly 3000 sq metres volume are only found in shoals of a few hundred. territorial waters and allocated fishing grounds are all but totally depleted as it is. Shell fish are gradually becoming more and more a risk. The mussels off the SE and E England coastline are now relatively high in things like lead, asbestos trace, plastics and things we humans should not have in our bodies thank estuary tipping that finished up to 40 years ago now leeching into the sea. Langoustine and salmon off the Scottish coast and into the mouths of sea lochs are reasonably good, but look at the price of them. Nothing taken out of the Mediterranean, anywhere, should pass human lips. It is a frightening picture that is contributing to loss of valuable nutrients and several hundred thousand livelihoods in our hemisphere alone. I happen to love all of these things, really enjoy all sea food, but reading about them is frightening. I am probably too old to care, but if eat them my young children will eat them and am I contributing to their misery with stomach, liver or intestinal cancers later?
None of that is out of my head, it is taken from UN sources, especially the FAO, and a number of very serious environmental organisations, two of which I am a member. They do not propagandise things at all, that is what politician say to avoid having to admit they are delivering us facts and truth.
However, Carol, your point on vegetables is absolutely right. I too have vegan friends and see how they struggle to live up to the standards they set themselves. I also have friends who are vegetarians who do not eat fish, poultry or eggs but use dairy products down through the line to those who consume largely vegetable matter with fish and white meats. Some are French, one does not eat out because she feels she cannot. That must, as Carol is saying, change.