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THE health of fish stocks is not exactly box-office material. And it’s unlikely to become a big story until the likes of cod and sole disappear from the menu. Sadly, in Europe, this is getting too close for comfort. Most of the continent’s fish stocks are shockingly depleted, some close to collapse.

Part of the reason for this is that politicians who represent fishing communities persistently ignore the scientists’ pleas to limit fishing so that stocks can recover. To end this parochial, short-term thinking, the European Commission now plans to hand control of fisheries to committees of faceless bureaucrats, closely…

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