This study examines how coastal engineering structures such as seawalls, groynes and breakwaters have had a long term impact on the coast and traditional small-scale fisheries in Kerala. Kerala is a coastal state with 9 of its 14 districts having a coastline the total length of which is 580 kms. The coastal zone of Kerala is also densely populated, particularly the southern districts of Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha where population densities exceed 2500 persons per sq.km on an average compared to 780 persons per sq.km for the state as a whole and 2022 persons per sq.km among coastal districts of the State2 . The high-rising mountains of the Western Ghats, reaching upto 2695 m above mean sea level in the east, and the hills of the midland, greatly influence the ecological setting of coastal Kerala. Within a short spatial span, varying from 60 to 120 kms, rivers that originate in these high rising mountains, discharge their waters into the Arabian Sea.
