Saint Martin’s Island, a fragile coral ecosystem in the Bay of Bengal, has long faced environmental pressure from unregulated tourism, climate-related threats, and unplanned development. Recent conservation measures, particularly the imposition of tourism restrictions, have further reshaped the relationship between ecological protection and community livelihoods. The study investigates the environmental and socioeconomic consequences of the 2024 tourism restrictions on Saint Martin’s Island. While introduced to mitigate anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity, these measures have generated significant livelihood challenges for local residents whose economic survival is closely tied to tourism. The research critically examines how capitalist-driven tourism and top-down conservation policies on Saint Martin’s Island reproduce structural inequalities, ecological degradation, and the exclusion of local communities from decision-making processes. It further investigates how the local community and environmental actors interpret and respond to ecological changes following the government’s tourism restrictions, analysing these perceptions through the framework of socio-ecological justice and collective stewardship of natural resources. It seeks to identify and propose community-led and socially equitable strategies to integrate biodiversity protection with livelihood security, moving beyond profit-oriented tourism models.