A seafood industry lobby group has hit out at Forest and Bird's Best Fish Guide days before the list of what fish species are sustainable is released.
The guide is due out on Wednesday, but the Seafood Industry Council has already labelled it as misleading.
In a message for stakeholders the council's chief executive Peter Bodeker says the guide, which last year identified snapper and orange roughy as among species to avoid, did not reflect reality.
"Forest and Bird will no doubt be all doom and gloom with the launch of their revised fish guide.
"If it's like the last version, it will simply be no more than their positions made to look like respectable guides to what fish we should eat.
"We know how misleading it is and how it completely ignores the fact that New Zealand has one of the best managed fisheries in the world," Mr Bodeker said.
Forest and Bird's guide ranks the ecological sustainability of seafood from New Zealand's commercial fisheries using a range of measure including sustainability, fishing method and vulnerability to overfishing.
The guide will be released on February 8 and the environmental group hopes it will help New Zealanders make "greener" seafood choices.
It hopes the guide will put pressure on New Zealand's commercial fishing industry to end ecologically destructive practices and also help protect endangered species such as Maui's dolphin.
NZN