In the area of a coastal fishing village on the mangrove peninsula of Bragança, State of Pará, North Brazil, coastal changes were observed by a beach profile monitoring programme between 1997 and 2001. The assessment allowed a subdivision of the region into four small coastal cells (1–3 km), partly exhibiting heavy erosion. A number of related socio-economic problems, such as loss of alternative income sources caused by the locally unpredictable erosion patterns were identified in three separate village sections. This results in a year-round dependence on seasonally low fishery incomes and increases the risk of poverty. Since limited options for action are available to the local population, different social groups have evolved different land use patterns, which in turn influence local coastal morphodynamics. Not only the hydrodynamic signature, but also the socio-economic organisation of a coastal community and the co-evolutionary path between these two variables thus indicate the state of a coastal system and the most promising policy actions towards sustainable coastal management.