Improving coastal livelihoods resilience

Adithya Pillai, Kartik Shanker

India’s coasts are home to diverse communities who live and work in its seascapes, with over 15 million people directly dependent on fishing; and countless others indirectly. With one fishing village every three to four kilometres, the coast continues to have a significant percentage of fishers that are subsistence-based and small-scale. Around 67% of the country’s small-scale marine fisher families live below the poverty line. Additionally, vulnerable households include a wide range of livelihood profiles, from fishers, fish vendors, fish processors, dried fish, smoked fish and fish meal producers, to ancillary workers, including net menders, boat and engine repairers, sellers of salt, fishing equipment, packers of dried fish, fish carriers, private transporters, ice suppliers, among others.

The aim of the livelihoods sub programme is to conduct research on site-specific livelihood needs and vulnerabilities, identify current trends affecting the livelihoods of these communities, to support existing coastal livelihood opportunities, and to address exclusions in the distribution of government support and benefits. Under the programme, a livelihoods needs assessment is being conducted in fishing villages in Odisha and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.