Qualifications: 

M.Sc. Marine Biology, Pondicherry University, Port Blair campus, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (2015).

B.Sc. Life Sciences, Ramnarain Ruia College, Mumbai (2012).

Advanced Open Water Diver, PADI, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (2015).

E-mail: ishaan.khot@dakshin.org;  ishaankhot@gmail.com

Profile: 

I have always been greatly fascinated by the human dimensions of nature and strongly believe in the need for interdisciplinary solutions to address the complex problems of the Anthropocene.

My broad interests lie in understanding patterns of natural resource use and drivers of transitions in social-ecological systems. Being a Marine Biologist by training, oceans, fisheries and coastal communities appeal to me the most.  Over the past few years, I have had opportunities to work and interact with fishing communities from Maharashtra, Andamans and Lakshadweep. I have been associated with Dakshin’s long-term community-based fisheries management work in the Lakshadweep Islands since August 2015.

At present, I oversee the research and intervention projects under Dakshin’s Sustainable Fisheries programme. Our efforts are geared towards developing a holistic understanding of India’s fisheries and creating ground-up and contextualised solutions through collaborative approaches. In the future, I am also keen on diversifying and exploring other approaches and themes to understand and address larger issues in sustainability.

Publications and Project Outputs:

• Reports
  • Island Sustainability Pathways: Towards participatory fisheries governance in the Lakshadweep Islands

• Academic Posters 
  • Marine Science for the Masses: Community-based fisheries monitoring in the Lakshadweep Islands (Presented at the 5th International Marine Conservation Congress, Kuching, Malaysia, June  2018)

• Popular Articles
  • Trapped between lockdown and mega development plans, India’s fishworkers left to fend for themselves (Scroll.in, May 2020)
  • Finding Bright Spots in a Darkening Ocean (Vikalp Sangam, January 2018)
  • A Tryst with Nature (The Andaman and Nicobar Islands Blog, October 2015)
• Dakshin Blog Articles
  • Forgotten people, forgotten stories: fisherwomen in lockdown
  • From monitoring to management: Big words for the bigger picture

• Outreach Material
  • Fish For The Future Calendar Series
  • Lakshadweep Community-based Catch Monitoring Output – English (2015)
  • Lakshadweep Community-based Catch Monitoring Output – Malayalam (2015)

Presentations at Conferences/Symposia:

• ICT4Fisheries Conference, Cape Town, South Africa (October 2019)
• 3rd World Small-scale Fisheries Congress, Chiang Mai, Thailand (October 2018)
• SPEEC-UP, Bangalore (August 2017)
• Student Conference on Conservation Science, Bangalore (September 2016)

Grants/Fellowships Received:

• Ravi-Sankaran Inlaks Fellowship (2017 ): Small Grant to conduct an implementation-based project to develop and test a prototype mobile application for community-based fisheries monitoring in the Lakshadweep Islands.