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The emergence of commercial aquaculture in estuaries along the coast of Karnataka, India, has resulted in the breakdown of traditional methods of resource management and adverse impacts on the coastal environment. Based on field survey, personal discussions and published literature, we analyzed the evolution of different market (economic), traditional, and regulatory institutions governing the use of estuarine resources in the study area over the last three decades, and identified the environmental and social impacts of this evolution. In the past, informal associations of farmers in the estuarine floodplains had managed lands for raising crops and brackish-water fish in a sustainable way. In recent years, under economic and political pressures, landowners leased their lands to commercial shrimp-producers. A rapid growth in the production of commercial shrimp, employment of unsustainable production technologies, and laxity in environmental regulation have caused negative ecological and economic impacts on communities dependent on estuarine resources. Through a recent order from the Indian Supreme Court, environmentalists and the affected communities have sought to ban commercial aquaculture in ecologically-sensitive areas. While this court order awaits implementation, several policy options are here suggested for local, state and central governments in India in order to protect the estuarine environment.

The sustainable livelihood approach is an analytical framework that helps identifying the assets that local communities rely on, the risks they are subjected to, organisations and institutions influence their daily lives and the strategies they undertake. This is a valuable approach in small-scale fisheries management as artisanal fisheries are exposed to uncertainty in terms of supply and demand, and fishing activities usually are influenced by social and institutional factors. However, in spite of its usefulness and the fact that this approach has been previously used in projects targeting small-scale fisher communities, it is still not widely applied to small-scale fisheries. In this study we applied the sustainable livelihood approach as an analytical tool to assess the potential of the mud crab Scylla serrata as a sustainable livelihood resource for the southwest Indian states such as Karnataka. As fishers worldwide face continuous pressure from industrial fishing fleets and decreased fish stocks and their productivity, we also identified what could be the potential barriers to small-scale mud crab farming for communities that are already are involved in mud crab fishing. Data were collected and analysed from a semi-structured questionnaire, two focus group discussions and key informant interviews conducted in Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka. The results indicated that though mud crab is perceived as a good source of income in this area, at present it is not recognised as a steady source of income due to the unpredictable fishery catches. Respondents were aware of mud crab farming yet stated the lack of land and financial resources as the main barriers and only the minority expressed any interest in undertaking such activity. The sustainable livelihood approach proved to be a valuable research tool for identifying matters of concern for local communities regarding their source of livelihoods and barriers to small-scale aquaculture.

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