Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Sundarbans : Challenges, Resilience, and Policy Pathways

This book discusses the sustainability challenges of small-scale fisheries in the Sundarbans, examining the socioecological dynamics and management approaches in this complex transboundary ecosystem shared between India and Bangladesh. Integrating oceanographic, ecological, and socioeconomic perspectives, it provides a multiscale analysis of artisanal fisheries in deltaic environments under anthropogenic climate stress.

Employing multidimensional vulnerability frameworks, the work analyzes ecological risks—climatic threats, oceanographic shifts, pollution dynamics—alongside the gender-disaggregated livelihood in fishing communities and the socioeconomic constraints creating poverty traps. The narrative moves beyond the Sundarbans to explore mangrove fisheries across Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America, identifying cross-regional sustainability patterns and innovative solutions. Resilience-based adaptive management frameworks are presented to help combat these issues, and the authors explore policy innovation and governance design frameworks for empowering small-scale fisheries at the intersection of ecological stewardship and socioeconomic equity.

This book is beneficial for postgraduates, undergraduates, professionals, researchers, fishery managers, policy makers, and academic scholars in fisheries science, environmental engineering, environmental management, sustainable development, and social ecology.

Anisa Mitra is an Assistant Professor of Zoology at Sundarban Hazi Desarat College, University of Calcutta, India. With over 14 years of teaching experience and 12 years in research, she specializes in fisheries and aquaculture. Dr. Mitra earned her Ph.D. from the University of Calcutta and has published extensively in national and international journals. She authored a book on the Biology and Culture potential of Chitala chitala and serves as a regular reviewer for national and internationally reputed journals.

Prabal Barua serves as Program Manager at Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), Bangladesh, and Visiting Lecturer at Bangladesh Marine Fisheries Academy, teaching Biostatistics, Marine Fisheries Management, Coastal Resource Management, and Sustainability Management. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from Jahangirnagar University, an M.Phil in Fisheries Technology from University of Calcutta, and B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Marine Sciences from University of Chittagong. With 18 years of research experience and 14 years of professional experience, he has contributed over 100 publications to reputed journals and book chapters.

Sumit Homechaudhuri is Former Professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Calcutta and the President of the Zoological Society of Kolkata. A gold medallist from the University of Calcutta with over 30 years of research experience, he has supervised 30 Ph.D. and 24 M.Phil. students. He previously served as Head of the Zoology Department and has published extensively in esteemed journals. He co-authored a book on Chitala chitala and regularly reviews for international journals.

Saeid Eslamian is Professor of Hydrology and Water Resources Sustainability at Isfahan University of Technology and Director of Excellence in Risk Management and Natural Hazards. His research focuses on statistical and environmental hydrology and climate change. A former visiting professor at Princeton University, ETH Zurich, and McGill University, he has contributed to over 1,000 publications, authored approximately 400 books and book chapters, and founded the International Journal of Hydrology Science and Technology. He serves on editorial boards of 140 Web of Science journals, including as associate editor for Journal of Hydrology and several other prestigious publications.

Faezeh Eslamian holds a Ph.D. in Bioresource Engineering from McGill University, where she developed a novel lime-based product to mitigate phosphorus loss from agricultural fields. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Isfahan University of Technology, researching natural absorbents for pollutant removal. An experienced multidisciplinary researcher with interests in soil and water quality, environmental remediation, water reuse, and drought management, Dr. Eslamian currently works at GHD in Montreal, Canada.