This website as a repository of past literature on marine mammals, with species identification pages, was first created in 2008 by Kumaran Sathasivam and K.S.Natarajan, with financial support from Whale and Dolphin Conservation, UK and strong encouragement from Nicola Hodgins.
In 2019, the website was updated to become the Marine Mammal Research and Conservation Network with a dynamic database and updated resources. The maintenance of the site since 2019 is carried out by GreyCoconut Designs and OchreRevival. You may contact us at marinemammalsin@gmail.com.
Our Social media page (Instgram: @marinemammals.in) is managed by Kavya Ramesh.
Scientific content is co-managed by Kumaran Sathasivam, Dipani Sutaria, Shaunak Modi, Isha Bopardikar, Mahi Mankeshwar, Ketki Jog, Imran Samad, Divya Panicker, Sameeha Pathan, Sripad Goenka along with National and International Marine mammal scientists.
Our database is managed by Shaunak Modi, Imran Samad and GreyCoconut. We are thankful to our interns Vidisha Bansal, Bryan Miranda, Pranay Bhatnagar, Satvika Nakula and Eklavya Tiwari for helping us keep the database updated.
AR Studios has created a free to download application for both Android and Mac OS, for marine mammal species identification – it is available in coastal Indian languages – please download here https://arstudios.org/apps
International experts who provide their time to check on difficult identifications are Thomas Jefferson, Robert Brownell, Robert Pitman, Robert Baldwin, Anouk Ilangakoon, Hal Whitehead, Frances Gulland, John Wang, Robin Baird, Tim Collins, Gianna Minton and Andrew Wilson. We are very thankful for their technical support.
For photographs of different species from India we thank Vardhan Patankar, Divya Panicker, Abhishek Jamalabad, Dipani Sutaria, Ketki Jog, Mihir Sule, Rahul Muralidharan, Saagar Rajpurkar, Udayan Borthakur, Akshay Malawi, Omkar Dharwadker, Rohan Arthur, Mahi Mankeshwar, members of fishing communities and the Indian Coast Guard.
Marine Mammal Research in India – who, where and what..
Abhishek Jamalabad : Abhishek is a MSc in marine biology, who studied marine mammal – fisheries interactions in 2015-16. He is with The Habitat Trust, India as Deputy Manager of the Marine Program. He initiated inter-tidal walks in Goa and Mumbai and is one of the Founding members of Marine Life of Mumbai. Email: Abhishek.Jamalabad@gmail.com
Alvin Anto : Alvin Anto is a coral reef researcher and Ph.D. scholar at the ICAR–Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi, where he specializes in the resilience and recovery capacity of coral reefs in the Lakshadweep Islands. Holding a Master’s degree in Zoology, he is pursuing his doctoral research at CMFRI with a focus on how coral reef ecosystems respond to climate change–induced stressors. Alvin is a certified SCUBA diver and licensed drone pilot. Currently, Alvin serves as a Young Professional II with the Marine Mammal Stock Assessment in India (MMSAI) program at CMFRI, Kochi, further expanding his expertise in marine biodiversity research and conservation. Email: alvinantoz@gmail.com; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alvin-Anto
Avik Bannerjee : Avik is a MSc in Wildlife Biology and Conservation, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore. For his MSc thesis he studied interactions between humpback dolphins and fisheries in Kochi harbor, Kerala. He is interested in exploring fisheries-cetacean interactions. Email : avik1593@gmail.com
Adithya Chandra P. B : Adithya upon completing his integrated M.Sc. in Climate Change and Adaptation from Kerala Agricultural University, specialized in ecosystem analysis using advanced geospatial technologies, with a dissertation at CMFRI focusing on the spatiotemporal dynamics of mangrove forests. His technical proficiency includes tools such as Google Earth Engine, Python, and QGIS for environmental modeling. Currently, he works within the marine mammal project at CMFRI in Kochi, and contributes to marine mammal surveys. This role synthesizes practical field experience, including species sightings, with his primary responsibilities in species distribution modeling for dolphins and the development of novel UAV-based survey methodologies. Email : adichandra2255@gmail.com; www.linkedin.com/in/adithya-chandra-p-b-20ba09287
Ameya Bhojane : Ameya has a masters in biodiversity from Mumbai University. He is currently studying coastal cetaceans in Mumbai as part of the team at CCF. Ameya’s research interests lie in the behavioural ecology and acoustic behaviour of cetaceans. Email : ameyabhojane22@gmail.com
Amisha Nakhwa : Amisha holds an MSc in Animal Behaviour from the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Her continued affiliated work with the university focusses on the sensory biology of mammals, particularly the role of vibrissae in tactile perception among aquatic carnivorans such as pinnipeds and otters. Her broader interests lie in intersections of mammalian behavioural biology, their sensory and cognitive systems and their evolutionary adaptations. Currently, she is part of the Oceans and Coasts Programme at the Nature Conservation Foundation, where she studies dugong bioacoustics in the Andaman Islands. Her work involves acoustic monitoring of dugongs, and investigating influence of environmental drivers on their habitat use.
Email: amishanakhwa@gmail.com ; RG: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amisha-Nakhwa
Balu Tharakan E.M : Balu Tharakan E.M is a molecular biologist and environmental researcher with expertise in marine mammal stock assessment, molecular taxonomy, and translational ecology. He currently serves as a Young Professional II with the Marine Mammal Stock Assessment in India (MMSAI) program at CMFRI, Kochi. As part of the Molecular Taxonomy Lab, he contributes to field surveys, marine mammal sample collection, and DNA-based species identification for global repositories such as GenBank. Balu brings an interdisciplinary perspective to his work. A recipient of the CSIR Senior Research Fellowship, his research bridges ecology and biotechnology, with strong interests in environmental microbiology, biodiversity tools, and the development of biobank infrastructure for healthcare and conservation applications. Email: balu.achu.tharakan@gmail.com; https://www.linkedin.com/in/balu-tharakan-e-m-93a22141/ ; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Balu-Em;
Coralie D’Lima, PhD : Coralie is an ecologist who studied Irrawaddy dolphin conservation for her PhD, titled ‘Striking a balance between fishing, tourism and dolphin conservation at Chilika Lagoon’. India.
Email : Coralie.dlima@gmail.com
Dipani Sutaria, PhD : Dipani is an environmentalist and an ecologist interested in biogeography, behavioural ecology and urban ecology. She is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at JCU, Australia; marine mammal coordinator at Dakshin Foundation, India; and a member of the IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group; Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task force. At the SMM, Dipani is part of the International Relations Committee and the Conservation Committee, as well as an Officer of the Board. Email : Dipani.Sutaria@gmail.com
Durga V : With a background in marine biology, Durga focuses on cetacean ecology, molecular studies, and coastal biodiversity. She is currently working as Young Professional -II, under the Marine Mammal Stock Assessment of India (MMSAI) project at ICAR-CMFRI, Kochi, where she contributes to marine mammal stock surveys, cetacean stranding documentation, and molecular analyses of stranded cetaceans along the Indian coast. Previously, at CSIR-NIO, Mumbai, Durga worked on phytoplankton ecology, biodiversity assessments, coastal monitoring, and evaluating ecological baselines for large-scale projects. Durga is particularly motivated to better understand marine mammal ecology, and to contribute research that supports effective conservation and management strategies. Email: durgav12071999@gmail.com ; https://www.linkedin.com/in/durga-v-99b339209/ ; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Durga-Vakkadavath?ev=hdr_xprf
Divya Panicker, PhD : Divya is a bioacoustician and data manager, a research affiliate at FERAL, a visiting faculty at Ashoka University and works in collaboration with University of Washington, USA. Divya’s Phd thesis focused on the influence of oceanographic features on cetacean diversity and distribution patterns using passive acoustic monitoring and visual survey techniques. She first studied humpback dolphins in Kerala in 2012 and has since been working on oceanic cetaceans in Lakshadweep waters. Email: Divya145@gmail.com
Elrika D’Souza, PhD : Elrika is a marine biologist and has been studying Dugongs in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for more than a decade. She is with the Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore and her work on dugongs and sea grass habitats continues on the islands. Elrika is also a member of the Education Committee of the SMM. Email : Elrikad@gmail.com
Isha Bopardikar, PhD : Isha is a bioacoustician and research affiliate at FERAL, Tamil Nadu and works with IISER, Tirupati, in collaboration with the K. Lisa Yang Centre for Bioacoustics, Cornell University, USA. Her PhD focussed on applying acoustic techniques to monitor habitat use and occurrence patterns of coastal cetaceans. She is also interested in understanding the role of ambient noise and changing soundscapes on communication behaviour of cetaceans. She is a Student Member at Large on the SMM Board. Email : Isha.Bopardikar@gmail.com
Imran Samad : Imran studies the interactions of coastal cetaceans with human activities such as fisheries and tourism and their implications for the survival of species. He combines multiple methods from boat-based and drone surveys to machine learning and advanced modelling approaches to answer questions pertaining to cetacean conservation in India. Email : imransamad7@gmail.com, Website: https://imransamad.
Kavya Ramesh : Kavya has been working with marine mammals since 2019. She completed an International Master’s in Marine Biological Resources (IMBRSea) with a specialization in Applied Ecology and Conservation. Her master’s thesis focused on the effects of shipping noise on blue whales, fin whales, and sperm whales in the Irish offshore waters. Kavya’s main area of interest is in using visual and bioacoustic techniques to study habitat use, distribution and the impacts of anthropogenic threats on cetaceans. Currently, she is working with the Nature Conservation Foundation in the Andaman Islands, where she’s researching the impact of boat traffic on the local dugong populations. Email : Kavya.r128@gmail.com
Ketki Jog : Ketki is a PhD candidate at the James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. She has been studying cetaceans in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra since 2012. She is studying the socio-ecology of Indian Ocean humpback dolphins and their interactions with the local fishery operations in Sindhudurg, Maharashtra. She is a Student Member at Large on the SMM Board. Email : Ketki.Jog@gmail.com
Kuberan Ganesan : I am a highly motivated and experienced Marine Biologist with over a decade of dedicated marine biodiversity and ecology research. My expertise includes deep-sea shrimp investigations, assessments of marine mammals, and the preparation of comprehensive marine baseline survey reports. I have a proven track record in conducting rigorous field surveys and am certified as a proficient Marine Mammal Observer (MMO). I am firmly commited to advancing sustainability initiatives through in-depth analysis of species diversity, spatial distribution, and ecosystem dynamics. I am eager to leverage my expertise and passion to support the objectives of a purpose-driven organization dedicated to environmental stewardship. I am currently at CMLRE, India.
Email : gkuber006@gmail.com ; Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-kuberan-ganesan-50ba9a24 ; RG: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kuberan-Ganesan-2?ev=hdr_xprf
Mahi Mankeshwar : Mahi is interested in understanding habitat preferences of megafaunal populations through the study of oceanographic parameters. Mahi has interned at the Goes-Gomes Lab at Columbia University’s Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. She has documented the species diversity and mapped the distribution of cetaceans from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The dataset also contributed towards delineating Southern Andamans as an Important Marine Mammal Area. She currently leads the cetaceans program at the Coastal Conservation Foundation where her team is conducting a multidisciplinary assessment of the humpback dolphin population off Mumbai. Email : Mahi.Mankeshwar@gmail.com
Madhu Magesh, Phd : Dr Madhu Magesh is currently working on Marine Mammal Research for the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), MoES, Kochi. Before CMLRE, Madhu was with Wildlife Institute of India’s Dugong and seagrass conservation project, in the Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar, Tamil Nadu. Email: madhumageshk@gmail.com
Mahua Roy Chowdhury, PhD : Mahua is a marine biologist and has been assessing wetland ecosystems with special reference to mangroves and dolphins in West Bengal since 2011. She has also worked for WWF-India on their south Asian river dolphin conservation project where she assessed sustainable livelihood strategies for fisherman communities in West Bengal. She is broadly interested on marine and estuarine biodiversity as well as conservation related issues. Email: mahua.rishra@gmail.com
Maia Lisa D’Souza : Maia holds an MS from IISER Mohali, where she worked on dolphin acoustic communication around mass stranding events at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, USA for her thesis. She is currently working on the acoustic repertoire and song of Arabian Sea humpback whales. She is based in Goa and is interested in behavioural ecology, communication, sociality, and culture in marine mammals. Email : maialisa99@gmail.com RG: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maia-Dsouza
Mihir Sule : Mihir is a marine biologist by training and has been studying coastal systems since 2012 and has focused mainly on small cetaceans in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra as a part of the KCRT.
Email : Mihir.Sule@gmail.com
Nachiket Kelkar, PhD : Nachiket Kelkar studies river-floodplains, river dolphins, fisheries, and fishing communities, and is keenly interested in the ecology and conservation of the rivers of the Indian subcontinent. He is with the Riverine Ecosystems and Livelihoods (REAL) programme at WCT. He is also a member of the IUCN cetacean specialist group and the International Whaling Commission’s South Asian river dolphin Task Team. Email: rainmaker.nsk@gmail.com
Prachi Hatkar : Prachi Hatkar is a MSc in Zoology (Oceanography and fishery science). Currenly a Ph.D. candidate at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Vadodara, Prachi has worked at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun for their Dugong conservation project. Her current research studies Dugong habitat assessment in the Gulf Of Kutch, Gujarat. Her research interests include understanding the ecology of endangered species, diversity assessment of marine life, and connections between conservation, ecosystem benefits and livelihoods. Email: pprachi62@gmail.com
Pradip Chogale : Pradip Namdeo Chogale is a marine biologist and conservationist specializing in marine megafauna, with 6+ years of hands-on experience in marine mammal research, bycatch mitigation, and community-based conservation along India’s west coast. His expertise includes studying species distribution and threats and collaborating with fishing communities to reduce marine mammal bycatch and actively participating in stranding response efforts as part of Maharashtra’s Marine Response Network. His work with organizations like WCS-India, CMFRI, and BNHS reflects his commitment to bridging research and conservation. Connect via LinkedIn or explore his science communication at Ocean Insights Blog. Email: pradipnc93@gmail.com Blog: https://pradipnchogale.blogspot.com/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/pradip-n-chogale-0938309b
Prem Jothi : Prem is a marine biologist based in Canada. He previously worked at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals – KFUPM . Before this he was with the Wildlife Institute of India’s Dugongs and seagrass conservation project. He has also worked on the WTI whale shark conservation and recovery program in Gujarat for several years.
Email: premjothi@gmail.com
Rahul Muralidharan, PhD : Rahul is a political ecologist based in Tamil Nadu researching marine governance and transformations, and its influence on human-animal relations in coastal environments. He has been studying marine mammals with the support of artisanal fishers since 2009. Rahul is at the Sustainability Lab in IIT-Chennai.
Email : rahul.muralidharan1988@gmail.com
Ratheesh Kumar R, PhD : Ratheesh is a senior scientist at ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi. He specialized in marine mammal research in Indian waters and as the lead investigator of the Marine Mammal Stock Assessment in Indian Waters (MMSAI) project, he and his team conduct dedicated surveys to estimate the abundance, distribution, and population trends of marine mammals across India’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The project also focuses on developing robust monitoring methodologies, strengthening baseline data for conservation, and providing scientific inputs to support national management and policy frameworks. His research further extends to species distribution modelling and spatial mapping of cetaceans in Indian waters. He is also engaged in the molecular identification of stranded marine mammals, investigating their causes of mortality, and examining the influence of physical and biological factors on stranding events. Email : rkcmfri@gmail.com; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ratheesh-R-2
Sameeha Pathan PhD : Sameeha studied the extent-estimation, monitoring and mapping of seagrasses, and identifying marine megafuanal hotspots in the Gulf of Kachchh, Gujarat for her PhD from WII. She is working with the Wildlife Institute of India’s Dugongs and seagrass conservation project, in the Gulf of Kachchh, Gujarat.
Email: sameehavahedkhan@gmail.com
Samir Sinha : Samir Kumar Sinha heads the Species Recovery Division of Wildlife Trust of India. With over 20 years of experience working on aquatic and forest ecosystems, Samir has worked on population assessment and diving behaviour of the Ganges River Dolphin in the Ganga and its tributaries. He is a member of IUCN’s World commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM), and member of State Board for Wildlife, Bihar.
Email: samir@wti.org.in; samir.wild@gmail.com
Sri Chakra Pranav : Sri Chakra Pranav is a marine biologist and conservationist, leading East Coast Conservation Team (ECCT), aiming to create a Marine Conservation Network for Andhra Pradesh and to collaborate with various stakeholders to study and conserve the least studied marine species, including cetaceans off Andhra Pradesh. He is now working for The Habitat trust. Email: eastcoastconservationtrust@
Shaunak Modi : Shaunak is a founding member of Coastal Conservation Foundation, Maharashtra. He runs intertidal walks and is an excellent nature communicator. Along with the team at CCF and current funding from The Mangrove Foundation, he is studying the near shore cetaceans of central and north Maharashtra.
Email : shaunakmodi@gmail.com
Shripad Goenka : Shripad worked on understanding marine megafauna bycatch across the Indian coastline. He also assisted with organizing the activities of Marine Mammal Consortium of India.
Email : Shripadgoenka6@gmail.com
Swapnali Gole, PhD : Swapnali studied macrobenthic assemblages associated with seagrass habitats in the Andaman Islands. She has worked on marine invertebrates along the west coast and Andaman-Nicobar Islands before joining the Dugong project in the Wildlife Institute of India from where she received her PhD.
Email : gole.swapnali@gmail.com,swapnali@wii.gov.in
Swapnil Tandel : Swapnil is a Masters in Oceanography and Fisheries from Mumbai University, and belongs to the fishing community in Maharashtra. From 2018 he is studying marine mammal and sea turtle-fisheries interactions in small scale fisheries in south Maharashtra as an independent researcher, supported by The Wildlife Trust of India and CMFRI. He engages with fishers & other stakeholders for the conservation of Whale shark and other protected marine mega fauna in Ratnagiri & Sindhudurg districts, Maharashtra.
Email : swapniltandel99@gmail.com
Treasa Augustina A.X : Treasa Augustina A.X. is an early-career ichthyologist with research interests in integrated taxonomy and molecular approaches. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the ICAR–Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi where her research focuses on the diversity, biology, and systematics of deep-sea fishes. She has taken part in onboard expeditions and field surveys, contributing to the documentation of marine biodiversity. She is presently working with the Marine Mammal Stock Assessments in India (MMSAI) program, where she applies these approaches to advance species identification and phylogenetic understanding of marine mammals in Indian waters. Email: treasaaugustina28@gmail.com; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Treasa-Augustina
Zainul, Abid P.M : Zainul Abid P. M. holds a Master’s degree in Aquaculture and Fishery Microbiology and is currently engaged in the Marine Mammal Stock Assessment project at ICAR–CMFRI, India. His research includes marine mammal visual health assessment, photo-identification, injury documentation, stranding response, behavioral monitoring, and turtle rescue. He is also involved in benthic and sediment studies, focusing on foraminifera and polychaete ecology, sediment texture, TOC, CHNS, and salinity. As a trained diver, he combines field-based underwater observations with laboratory research. Email: abidpmzainul@gmail.com; https://www.linkedin.com/in/zainul-abid-p-maqua1999utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app; https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=XvdDh74AAAAJ
Utthamapandian Udhayakumar, PhD : Completing masters in oceanography from Annamalai University, I started pursuing my doctorate studying biology and survival patterns of smooth coated otters in the coastal backwaters of Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu. From those days, I started participating in research cruises to do marine mammal surveys. After completing my doctorate, I started working as ‘Young Professional’ at Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Marine Mammals stock assessment project. I’ve sighted 17 species of marine mammals in Indian EEZ, studying their habitats, behaviors and became familiar with sampling techniques and taxonomy of marine mammals, along with the otters in Tamil Nadu. I am currently at OMCAR Foundation, TN.
Email : utthamapandian17@gmail.com; RG : Utthamapandian Udhayakumar
GoI Institutions and NGO’s working on oceanic marine mammals
- CMFRI, Kochi: At the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CMFRI), we play a leading role as key collaborators in the Government of India’s flagship project, ‘Marine Mammal Stock Assessments in India’, implemented under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY). Through this project, we aim to establish standardized datasets on marine mammal abundance, diversity, bycatch, and mortalities across India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). https://www.cmfri.org.in/division/fishery-enviornment
- Fisheries Survey of India
- CMLRE, Kochi
- WII
- WWF
- WCS
- NCF
GoI Institutions and NGO’s working on south Asian river dolphins:
- Nachiket Kelkar, PhD – Wildlife Conservation Trust of India
- Dr Sunil Choudhary and Subhasis Dey – Vikramshila Biodiversity Research and Education Centre (VBREC)- TM Bhagalpur University
- Dr Abdul Wakid, Dr Qamar Qureshi – Wildlife Institute of India
- Geetanjali Kanwar – WWF-India
- Dr RK Sinha – Patna University
- Dr Gopal Sharma – ZSI-Patna
- WWF-West Bengal
- Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh forest departments – National Chambal Sanctuary
- Dr Shailendra Singh – Turtle Survival Alliance
- Dr M. Khairuzzaman – Silchar University