Dakshin Foundation

Based in Bengaluru with field stations across Odisha, Tamil Nadu, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, and Maharashtra, Dakshin is a non-profit, non-government organisation working at the intersection of marine conservation, small-scale fisheries’ governance, and coastal community wellbeing. Its approach in research and interventions is interdisciplinary: drawing on ecology, conservation biology, sociology, economics, and law. Its work holds environmental sustainability and social justice as conditions of each other. The labour, leadership, and visibilisation of fishing communities in governance are central threads across Dakshin’s research and field programmes.

Its Coastal Grassroots Fellowship is a year-long experiential programme that builds leadership among women from small-scale fishing communities. The programme trains fellows in documentation, coastal ecology, governance, and public advocacy, supporting them to become spokespersons for the ecosystems and communities they belong to. Fellows have made films, led coastline clean-up and restoration efforts, and begun challenging the gender norms that have historically kept fisherwomen out of boats, harbours, and decision-making spaces. The organisation’s cumulative research available as scientific papers, reports, documentaries, articles, and outreach materials constitutes a rich resource for those interested in socio-economics, politics, and ecology of the fisheries sector. Dakshin combines field presence, research, advocacy, and community engagement to promote sustainable fishing practices in India.