Prawn and fish farming is an important source of income and employment for the local populace in the Sunderban region in West Bengal. These have led to a dynamism in the local economy in these areas. The results of this study suggest that the impact of this development has been skewed, whereby a small section of the population with access to capital has enjoyed substantial benefits and a large majority of the population was left out of the development trajectory.

Human land cover can degrade estuaries directly through habitat loss and fragmentation or indirectly through nutrient inputs that reduce water quality. Strong precipitation events are occurring more frequently, causing greater hydrological connectivity between watersheds and estuaries. Nutrient enrichment and dissolved oxygen depletion that occur following these events are known to limit populations of benthic macroinvertebrates and commercially harvested species, but the consequences for top consumers such as birds remain largely unknown.

This study evaluated the persistence of heavy metals, cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) in surficial marine sediments and their relationship with textural characteristics. Furthermore, heavy metal distribution was studied against organic carbon concentration within the sediments. Our results suggest that Cochin estuary is highly polluted in the case of all heavy metals (Pb of 29.48± 4.37µg/g, Cd of 0.21± 0.17µg/g and Hg of 0.17± 0.15µg/g). All the studied trace elements showed negative correlation with sand particles.

Accumulating evidence shows that the planet is warming as a response to human emissions of greenhouse gases. Strategies of adaptation to climate change will require quantitative projections of how altered regional patterns of temperature, precipitation and sea level could cascade to provoke local impacts such as modified water supplies, increasing risks of coastal flooding, and growing challenges to sustainability of native species.

The groundwater chemistry in the shallow aquifers of the coastal zone of Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala, India have been examined in detail. Results, in general, indicate that the groundwaters is more or less deteriorated.

Physico-chemical characteristics of Rajakkamangalam estuary situated in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu and its sediment samples were collected in 4 sampling stations in 2001.

Oysters play important roles in estuarine ecosystems but have suffered recently due to overfishing, pollution, and habitat loss. A tradeoff between growth rate and disease prevalence as a function of salinity makes the estuarine salinity transition of special concern for oyster survival and restoration.

The Indian Ocean (IO) extends over 30% of the global ocean area and is rimmed by 36 littoral and 11 hinterland nations sustaining about 30% of the world's population. The landlocked character of the ocean along its northern boundary and the resultant seasonally reversing wind and sea surface circulation patterns are features unique to the IO.