On a Firm Footing: Coastal Foot-fishing in a User-centric Policy Design to Promote Sustainable Livelihoods of Small-scale Fishers in India

Coastal Foot fishing (CFF), an undervalued fishery, is practiced by marginal communities in near-shore shallow ecosystems, such as lagoons, mangroves, estuaries, wetlands etc., with low investments and expenditures. Owing to its intrinsic methodological advantage as a nature-based enterprise, CFF provides major scope for the use of indigenous and traditional knowledge. The present investigation details the scope of CFF in India as a “feedback optimization mechanism” of coastal zone sustainability. Salient features and relevance of CFF for the targets of sustainable development goals #1 (no poverty), #2 (zero hunger), #5 (gender equality), #8 (decent work and economic growth), #12 (responsible consumption and production), as well as #14 (life below water) are illustrated. Optimization of operational CFF with motorized crafts is presented highlighting its link with India’s developmental programmes like Aspirational Districts, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Circular economy initiatives, disaster management, climate change mitigation for the coastal fishing sector.