Rick Stein: 'No-one eats herring'

The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution wants to see 30% of UK waters closed to commercial fishing.

But Mr Stein said it was "very negative" to stop eating fish entirely because that did not address the problem of what was going on at sea.

But an under-rated fish in the UK was herring, he said, the "best source of polyunsaturated fatty acids going".

Mr Stein said that during World War II, when no-one could fish, fish stocks regenerated in five or six years.

The more we love fish, the more we will want to preserve it Rick Stein

"The capacity of the sea to regenerate is wonderful if you give it a chance.

"At the moment there are a lot of species that are not used."

He added: "Even the humble herring is not used.

"There is not a problem with herring at the moment because we have lost our taste for them.

"One of the things I do as a restaurateur is to put these fish on my menus and get people enthusiastic," he said.

"My view is I love seafood, I love fish and I want to promote the idea of how wonderful fish is to cook with and eat.

"I just feel the more we love fish, the more we will want to preserve it."