Coastal Conservation Foundation (CCF)

Coastal Conservation Foundation is a marine research and conservation non-profit registered as a Section 8 company in September 2019. It grew out of Marine Life of Mumbai, a citizen-driven collective started in February 2017, which its founders incorporated in order to extend the model beyond volunteer capacity and beyond a single stretch of coast. Marine Life of Mumbai continues as the foundation's flagship programme and keeps its original open, volunteer-driven character. It documents the biodiversity of the city's intertidal shores through guided public shore walks, and every sighting is logged on iNaturalist so the record stays freely accessible. The foundation also runs the Coastwise marine festival, work on coastal cetaceans, and education sessions for schools ranging from short introductions to month-long project engagements. The foundation works alongside the Mangrove Foundation and WWF-India on the Coastwise festival, and its data sits in an open-access database released for non-commercial use. Its work has been covered by Sanctuary Asia and by international press.