Kerala once had over 70,000 hectares of mangroves, fringing its unique estuarine systems. Mangrove forests are acting as the excellent nursery grounds of great variety of finfish and shellfishes by offering food and shelter. Destruction of it led to the depletion of these fishery resources. Due to maximisation of exploitation, indiscriminate land use, reclamation activities etc., it has now become reduced to 1,924 ha confined to some small pockets of the backwaters. Mangroves are unique and ecologically important halophytes that grow in the coastal wetland of tropical belts. Urbanization, industrialization, unsustainable mode of aquaculture etc has resulted in the shrinkage of mangrove to considerable extent. The remaining mangrove should be protected. Afforestation in the back waters and estuaries can also be carried-out. The natural breeding grounds of the most of the marine fish are the shallow coastal protected areas.