N. Balakrishnan Nair
N. Balakrishnan Nair (1927–2010) was a respected marine biologist and ecologist from Kerala, India. He helped found the Kerala Science Congress and served as its first president. He is best known for promoting a ban on trawling during the monsoon season, a policy that the Kerala government later adopted to protect shrimp and coastal ecosystems.
He earned advanced degrees from the University of Madras and began his career at the University of Kerala, where he eventually headed the Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries (1968–1980) and served as dean of the Faculty of Science (1976). He later worked with the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment and chaired the Kerala State Coastal Zone Management Authority. He was also an emeritus professor with CSIR.
Nair’s research focused on organisms that damage marine ecosystems. He studied wood-boring molluscs and the biodeterioration of cellulose in water, as well as littoral ecology, wetlands, mangroves, and marine algae and seagrasses. He wrote extensively—publishing over 400 articles and several books—and proposed measures to conserve tropical aquatic life and manage its resources.
Among his many honors, Nair received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in 1971 for biological sciences and the Padma Shri in 1984. He also earned the All India Congress of Zoology Gold Medal (1980) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship (1982). He was a fellow of several prestigious science bodies, including the Indian National Science Academy, the Zoological Society of London, and The World Academy of Sciences.
Nair was married to Gomathi and had two children. He lived in Vazhuthacaud, Thiruvananthapuram, where he passed away on 21 April 2010 at the age of 82. His legacy continues through his research, advocacy for coastal protection, and the annual Prof. N. Balakrishnan Nair Award established by the Nansen Environmental Research Centre (India).
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:49 (CET).