Gloucester, Mass. — The gleaming cod delivered whole from the Gloucester-based Debra Ann II to shareholders in the Cape Ann Fresh Catch program were pulled from the ocean just hours earlier and only a few miles from the dock.

That would seem to embody the ideal of locally harvested, sustainable food.

But according to the expert authors of a growing number of "eco-friendly" seafood guides, the Fresh Catch cod, like most New England seafood, is best avoided if you care about the health of the oceans.

From environmental nonprofits to food conglomerates, celebrity chefs to aquariums, the business of "greening" seafood has taken off in tandem with trendy calls for socially-conscious eating and dire predictions that the seemingly limitless stocks of fish are verging on collapse.

Even Wal-Mart has promised to sell only "sustainable seafood" by 2011.

But who decides what's sustainable seafood and why?

Several groups are engaged in the business of issuing seafood seals-of-approval that are supposed to point consumers toward more enlightened buying choices. But depending on how the fish are caught, business connections and political ideology, one expert's sustainable harvest may be another's tragedy of the oceans.

The Debra Ann II's cod, for example, are not OK to eat because stocks of Gulf of Maine cod are depleted and because the fish are caught with nets and not hooks, according to arbiters of what's "green" and what's not.

Most groundfish in New England are caught by draggers or boats equipped to tow fishing nets along the bottom of the sea. Some environmentalists object to this fishing method because they claim it disturbs other marine life along the ocean floor and also lands too many fish at once. They prefer fish caught by hookers, or boats that bait individual hooks for their catch.

Some species now on many "green" lists — like Atlantic swordfish — just a few years ago were the subject of boycotts based on disputed claims they were on the verge of being fished into extinction or contained high levels of mercury. East Coast chefs made a show of removing swordfish from their menus.

Other fish, like the groundfish that have been at the heart of the New England industry for centuries, may be all right to eat — or not. The buyer needs to know where and how it was caught.

"Their claims are all crazy," says Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association, which helps run Fresh Catch.

"Our fishermen all follow strict regulations for mesh size and gear," she says, "and they cannot even catch all of the allowable catch" because of federal restrictions designed to make sure the stocks are sustainable.

"Buying local," let alone buying American, is not a virtue to any of the leading groups that rate seafood.

That's especially true when it comes to green certification programs, whose pay-to-play system tends to favor large industrial fisheries, many of them foreign.

The United States has some of the strictest fisheries management regulations in the world, yet imports around 80 percent of its seafood, much of it from countries, such as China, with poor environmental records.

The seafood imbalance of trade is extreme. The United States imports about $10 billion more than it exports ($14.2 billion in imports versus $4.3 billion in exports). Overall, 60 percent of imports come from Asian countries, led by China and Thailand.

In the United States, the publication with the most pull is the Seafood Watch pocket guide produced by the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. Primarily funded by the Packard and Pew foundations, the aquarium has close ties to Jane Lubchenco, the head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Seafood Watch guide divides purchases into three categories: "Best Choices," "Good Alternatives" and "Avoid."

The only New England fish among the 19 species qualifying for the "Best Choices" label are striped bass and longfin squid. Swordfish qualifies only if it is caught with a harpoon or hook and handline.

In the "Avoid" category are Atlantic cod, haddock (unless caught with hook and line), flounder, halibut, monkfish, skate and shark – all fish market and restaurant menu favorites. These are to be shunned because they're "caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment."

That's despite a tripling of the Gulf of Maine cod population since 1994, and a doubling of Georges Bank cod population since its low point in 2005, according to figures cited last year by NOAA.

The Seafood Watch recommendations are based on a scoring system that includes the species' vulnerability, its estimated current population and how the fishery is managed and its impact on the ocean environment.

The system does not take into account the impact of climate change or socioeconomic factors — such as whether a particular fishery is dominated by small, owner-operated businesses or industrial conglomerates.

The New England Aquarium in Boston has found its own niche in the "green" seafood world.

A decade ago, the aquarium entered into a partnership with the Dutch parent company of supermarket chain Stop & Shop to recommend sustainable seafood suppliers for the corporation's stores around the world.

Since then, the aquarium has expanded its sustainable seafood consulting work to several other food companies, including Red Lobster and Gorton's of Gloucester, all of which pay the aquarium for the service.

The arrangement gives the companies environmental credibility and greater certainty that their suppliers are not likely to be shut down by regulators or caught in an ecological scandal.

The New England Aquarium's Heather Tausig said the partnerships allow the aquarium to influence the buying decisions of wholesale seafood buyers that are major players in the market, and thus influence the fishing industry.

"What we have seen in the market-based approach is to find companies that have leverage in the supply chain," Tausig said. "They have loyal suppliers that they can press for continued improvement."

The recommendations by the region's aquarium are no more friendly to New England than those of other major players.

The only New England species on the aquarium recommended list are Atlantic mackerel, bluefish and herring, which is almost entirely exported.

The dominant force in sustainability certification is the London-based Marine Stewardship Council, founded in 1996 by global food and manufacturing giant Unilever (which owned Gorton's at the time) and the World Wildlife Fund.

The blue MSC logo can be found on all manner of wild-caught fish around the world, including frozen, fresh, and canned products. When Wal-Mart decided to go green in 2006, it vowed to buy all of its wild seafood from MSC sources by 2011.

To satisfy the demand from the increasing number of high-volume retailers looking to go green, the MSC has increased the pace of its certifications — going from 22 certified fisheries in 2006 to 86 today, with more than 100 others now under assessment.

Some of the certified fisheries are ecologically controversial.

For instance, there’s the perception that MSC’s blessing can be bought. It is also battling the charge that its structure favors big-money industrial fishing operations over small-boat fleets.

Food & Water Watch, a Washington, D.C., consumer rights organization, calls the MSC "not always a reliable indicator of best choices."

"At its worst, the eco-label sometimes serves as little more than a marketing tool for seafood corporations and retailers to 'greenwash' their image," Food & Water Watch wrote in a paper last year.

Food & Water Watch, which produces one of the only seafood guides urging consumers to buy local fish, says the confusion over competing labeling schemes would best be solved by government certification.

While marketing research suggests consumers are paying attention to the environment, it is unclear how much the fish-eating public pays attention to fish-sustainability certification.

"The information that is coming out is too confusing, so I don't think people are making their choices based on things in the media," said Monte Rome, owner of Intershell Seafood Corp. of Gloucester, Mass., who thinks health-related concerns such as red tide scares or pollution are bigger market-drivers.

Roger Berkowitz, founder of Legal Sea Foods restaurants in Boston, said the campaigns targeting many New England species are another example of how efforts to curb the overfishing of the past have now gone too far.

"Over time, as more and more environmentalists got involved and huge amounts of money came in from charities, the pendulum swung way too far," said Berkowitz.

Legal Sea Foods buys the vast majority of its fish products from New England sources; it is a major buyer of small, day-boat fish at the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction. It does not buy MSC-certified Chilean sea bass.

"We need to see more of those day boats coming in,” said Berkowitz. “Fish is still the healthiest protein."

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Patrick Anderson is a reporter for the Gloucester, Mass., Daily Times. Contact him at panderson@gloucestertimes.com