Summary
Many food retailers in North America and Europe have adopted and publicly promote corporate sustainable seafood commitments wherein they pledge to source their seafood from fisheries certified by the Marine Stewardship Council. Consequently, this has created a demand for the certification along the seafood supply chain, with much of the pressure to certify felt by harvester groups. This thesis draws from semi-structured interviews with harvester group representatives to describe how groups in three Atlantic Canada lobster fisheries navigate the complex certification landscape and to document influences that ultimately encouraged the pursuit of MSC certification. This paper argues that while market access for harvester groups is maintained by achieving certification, participation in MSC certification has resulted in various implications for these groups and tensions between externally-defined sustainability and locally-practiced sustainability are manifesting harvester dissatisfaction. This dissatisfaction may impact the perceived legitimacy and longevity of the MSC certification in Atlantic Canada.