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SDRF

About Us

The Marine Research Institute was started by the Sustainable Development Research Foundation (SDRF) in 2005.

Our team consists of 5 staff:

History

In December, 2004, the SDRF connected with the Thai Fisheries Department in Phung Nga, south Thailand, to ask what the SDRF could do to help poor fishing communities in the province that had been destroyed by the Tsunami which hit Phung Nga province on December 26th. The Fisheries Department connected the SDRF with 6 different marginalized fishing communities that were impacted by the Tsunami. As a result, the SDRF has so far became involved with four of the six communities, three of which are on Koh yao island about an hour’s boat ride from Phuket.

As the SDRF worked with these communities, to help them get back on their feet, a long term relationship began to develop between the SDRF, government officials and local communities. The Fisheries Department asked the SDRF to establish a branch office in Phung Nga province so that the SDRF could have an ongoing impact in the area. After officially setting up a branch office on Koh yao island, the SDRF was asked by the Muslim leadership of Koh yao island to start up the Marine Research Institute in order to work to renew the environment in the waters surrounding the island and enable fishing communities to improve their livelihood.


For the past year or so the SDRF has been developing the Marine Research Institute (MRI) on local community land which the Koh yao island community leadership provided for that purpose.