The coastal communities are one of the poorest and the most marginalized ones of the country. It is the caste system and exploitation by middlemen and merchants which is responsible for their low social and economic status. The dependence of fisher women on the middle men for credit, gave the middle men the capacity to control the fish market. This drained the surplus of fishing activity and the fisher women became indebted. There is an uncertainty in the fishing due to variability in the catch, technology upgrading, over capitalization, rising costs, aggressive fishing, overcrowding, beach accretion etc. Since the income of fishermen and women varies on a daily, seasonal and regional basis, they are vulnerable to money lenders. The interest rate on informal money lending in fisheries sector ranges from 24 to 120 percent per annum. There are many formal lending agencies in this area like Matsyafed, NCDC, NABARD, IFDP etc. Such organisations extend loan that ranges in interest from zero to less than 10 per cent depending on the purpose.

Keywords: Fishery Sector, Microfinance, Empowerment, Capital, Fisherwomen, MFIs.