Inland fishery has got great significance in national and global food security and livelihoods of people. The inland sector of the Kerala contributes around 1.40 lakh metric tons of fish. The present case study provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of the small-scale fisheries in Kerala highlighting its potential and challenges, reinforcing the need for efforts to ensure its sustainability to ensure the well-being of the local community with a gender perspective. In-depth interviews were done with fishers, fisher women, processors and traders involved in the fishing and clam processing in and around Vembanad lake and Korapuzha river basin. We observed issues such as conflicting role between agriculture and fishery, between fisheries and tourism and between traditional fishery and introduced culture technologies. The findings of the study throw light into the need for sustainable fisheries management practices to ensure the long-term viability, effective utilization of existing infrastructure, dialogue between stakeholders with regard to conflicting issues, gender inclusive policies and entrepreneurial motivation for a sustainable inland fishery management