Experts say of Britain's 12,000 fishermen there are fewer than 100 women

She said: 'Shouldn't say fishermen but "fishers" sounds wrong as a gender neutral alternative?'

Vexed: Labour's vegan farming minister, pictured at a badger cull protest event with Bill Oddie, said she didn't want to offend women who fish by calling them fishermen

Labour's vegan shadow farming minister was ridiculed today after asking for a 'gender neutral' term to avoid offending female fishermen.

Kerry McCarthy, who also in charge of environment, food and rural affairs, spoke out as her party is gripped by a row over whether to back the bombing of ISIS in Syria.

Ahead of a visit to a Somerset anaerobic digestion plant today she tweeted: 'Shouldn't say fishermen but "fishers" sounds wrong as a gender neutral alternative?'

Experts say of Britain's 12,000 fishermen there are fewer than 100 women.

She was then bombarded by a string of humorous responses suggesting she should consider using 'fisher-folk', 'fisher-dudesses', 'members of the fishing community' or even 'cod-botherers’, 'fishwives' and ‘fish stranglers'.

Others told her to 'get a grip' and focus on 'bigger issues of the day', including David Cameron's proposals to allow RAF bombers and drones to move into Syria to attack ISIS.

Bob Obvious told her: 'Could you get on with something that matters to your constituents?'

Another said: 'What worries me is that you're an Mo. You clearly have too much time on your hands to think up PC nonsense'.

Explaining why she tweeted about the issue she suggested she couldn't win either way.

She said: 'There's no such thing as a female fisherman - unless you're the sort of person who says 'Madame chairman

'If I say fishermen someone will pull me up on it! If I query it, even more people will! I was just musing on it, it's really not a big deal, is it?'

The Bristol MP was a controversial choice to take on the shadow Defra portfolio.

She previously branded livestock farming as ‘dirty and cruel’ and claimed meat-eaters should be treated like smokers even though her job is to connect with farmers.

Question: The Labour MP asked what she should call women who fish - saying calling them fishermen was 'wrong'

Responses: Ms McCarthy's query was met with genuine suggestions but others were bamboozled about why she wasn't concentrating on other things

The 50-year-old, who has been a vegan for more than 20 years, refuses to wear leather or wool and is the vice president of the League Against Cruel Sports.

She has campaigned against all ‘shooting sports’ and opposed the badger cull – which was demanded by many farmers to stop the spread of bovine TB.

‘The meat, dairy and egg industries cause immense suffering to more than a billion animals every year in the UK alone,’ she has said previously.

She has also accused farmers of causing world hunger by using crops to feed livestock rather than people.

On the effects of ‘top killers’ meat and dairy products, Miss McCarthy previously said: ‘Loaded with artery-clogging cholesterol and saturated fat, these products have been linked to cancer, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and obesity.

‘These top killers burden the NHS and necessitate that billions of pounds be spent searching for cures and medications to relieve disease symptoms.’