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Research vertical 11
Ports, shipping, fisheries and coastal communities, and how Kerala can build a maritime economy that is prosperous, fair and sustainable.
Kerala has a long coastline, a major port at Kochi, a new deep water transhipment port at Vizhinjam near Thiruvananthapuram, and fishing communities whose history goes back centuries. The maritime economy is one of the state’s largest opportunities and most delicate balancing acts.
Port led growth can bring investment, logistics and jobs. It can also change shorelines, displace livelihoods and strain infrastructure. Fishing communities face declining catches, coastal erosion, and exclusion from decisions that affect them. Getting the balance right requires evidence, consultation and long term thinking.
The vertical works with the Strategic Affairs and Planning and Environment verticals. Being based in Thiruvananthapuram, CRGD is close to the coast it studies.
What will a deep water transhipment port mean for Thiruvananthapuram's economy, and for the coast around it?
How can traditional fishing communities share in the growth of the maritime economy?
Which approaches to coastal erosion work, and which make it worse?
How should fish stocks be managed so that they last?
A transhipment port creates few jobs by itself. Whether Thiruvananthapuram benefits depends on the logistics, housing, skills and services that grow around it, and on planning that starts now.
Scholar Two
Along much of Kerala's coast, homes, roads and boats face the sea with less beach every year. The responses chosen now will shape the coast for a century.
Scholar Two, Researcher Three
DialogueIn person
Ongoing
A structured listening exercise in fishing villages along the Thiruvananthapuram coast, recording how communities experience coastal change and port development.
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