Phylogenetic diversity of culturable actinobacteria isolated from the intertidal regions of west coast of Maharashtra, India was studied using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Total of 140 actinobacterial isolates were obtained, which belonged to 14 genera, 10 families and 65 putative species withStreptomycesbeing the most dominant (63%) genus followed byNocardiopsisandMicromonospora. Isolates were screened for production of extracellular protease inhibitors (PI) against three pure proteases viz. chymotrypsin, trypsin, subtilisin and a crude extracellular protease fromPseudomonas aeruginosa. Eighty percent of the isolates showed PI activity against at least one of the four proteases, majority of these belonged to genusStreptomyces. Actinobacterial diversity from two sites Ade (17 degrees 52 ' N, 73 degrees 04 ' E) and Harnai (17 degrees 48 ' N, 73 degrees 05 ' E) with varying anthropological pressure showed that more putative species diversity was obtained from site with lower human intervention i.e. Ade (Shannon's H 3.45) than from Harnai (Shannon's H 2.83), a site with more human intervention. However, in Ade, percentage of isolates not showing PI activity against any of the proteases was close to 21% and that in Harnai was close to 9%. In other words, percentage of PI producers was lower at a site with lesser human intervention.