Provided he can spot a bit of codswallop it doesn't matter too much whether or not the Fisheries Minister can recognise a cod.
The seas around us used to be much richer in wildlife - it's difficult for us to recognise the changes because most of us can't get out and mix it in the marine world. But the fisheries data are stark from across the world. Here's a rather outdated link for cod in the North Sea - things have got a bit better since this.
Less than a hundred years ago there was a bluefin tuna fishery in the North Sea - now they are gone. Fish species after fish species has been depleted - overfished.
We need to give fish stocks a chance to recover and then there would be more fish in the sea and more fish that we could take out of the sea.
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
This campaign by Hugh Fearnley Whiitinstall to ban the process of discarding fish seems to be a fantastic success. Already within a day or two 271,000 people have signed his petition online.
It is worth while signing here at http://www.fishfight.net/
This is the kind of person you want backing the RSPB. Maybe as regards albatross and fish hooks in the southern oceans