That's not a vegetarian/vegan difference. Even if you're not eating the fish directly, you're still using dead fish, rather than products like milk or eggs. (Hmm, does that mean that caviar technically could be vegetarian, so long as you're careful not to let the eggs get fertilized?)Bears Armed wrote:If they're vegetarian rather than outright vegan then maybe they're using the fish as a [phosphate-rich] fertiliser for their crops? 'Fishmeal' is used in RL, after all
I guess it comes down to why you banned meat-eating. If you banned it out of animal rights concerns (which is by far the most commonly cited reason for doing such a thing, and tends to be assumed by issues such as #1213), then you should really apply the same rule to any use of dead animals, including export, crop fertilizer, leather/fur clothing, etc. If you merely think that animals aren't fit for human consumption (because of health concerns or something), then you might still be using meat for, say, pet food.