Jane and Aleh, help me here. If I read this sentence in Russian, I would think it meant "I'm eating a little bit of fish (now)." However I see that your translations mean that the speaker generally doesn't eat a lot of fish, which I would have expected to be Я ем мало рыбы. Am I crazy?

Hello Uly, I got your point. Both variants would mean the same thing. Я ем мало рыбы or Я ем немного рыбы = I don't like fish very much, so I don't eat it very often.

At the same time it's possible to say at the moment of eating "Я ем немного рыбы сейчас" and it would sound better than "Я ем мало рыбы сейчас". So, to sum it up:
Generally speaking
Possible two variants: 1) я ем мало рыбы; 2) я ем немного рыбы.

At the moment of eating it's better to say "Я ем немного рыбы".

Perfect answer, thank you!

Glad if that helps!

👍🏼

* Glad I could help -or- Hope that helps

In Russian, if you want to be 100% sure about the time of action in this case, it has to be specified by adverb, or in some other way including the context. For me, "Я ем немного рыбы" means that "I don't eat that much fish in general".

А если такая ситуация: (по телефону) - Что ты делаешь? - Да вот, ем немного рыбы.
Так можно сказать в принципе, но скорее мы скажем так: "Да вот, решил поесть немного рыбы"

To Jane: First of all, in your exemple, you gave the context. Second, you admitted It wasn't the best possible way to answer. )

To Aleh La: That's right, I just tried to illustrate once again how this phrase would sound in a context. That's all. Hope it's not a problem, because I didn't mean you were wrong. To me, the phrase "Я ем немного рыбы" also means "I don't eat much fish"(generally speaking), but it MAY BE used at the moment of eating.