Venkatesh Charloo

Green Teacher Award 2025
A passionate educator who has the skills of a teacher and the wisdom of a conservationist, and who inspires people to become one with nature by converting their learnings into action.

Venkatesh Charloo
Scuba diving instructor, teacher, ocean ambassador

Venkatesh Charloo, diver and conservationist, has spent a lifetime inspiring a love for the ocean. Over 30 years, he has trained nearly 2,000 divers, from first-time students to assistant instructors. Photo Courtesy: Vekatesh Charloo.

Deftly and methodically, Venkat tightens a cable tie to secure a coral tile to the metal frame, breathing gently through his mouth, a skill honed over decades. Practice for breathing? Yes. He is underwater, a full tank of air strapped to his back, assembling a coral bed for transplantation. Around him are his teammates, many of whom he personally trained.

Venkatesh Charloo is a diver and conservationist whose lifelong passion for the ocean has inspired thousands to share his sense of wonder. Over the last 30 years, he has trained nearly 2,000 divers – from first-time Discover Scuba students to Assistant Instructors.

But being underwater also awakened in Charloo a deep concern for the state of marine life. One day, while diving, he spotted an angelfish trapped in an abandoned fishing net. He freed it and held it gently until it recovered. “It just rubbed itself against my hand as if to say thank you,” Charloo recalls. That moment brought home the harsh reality of what was happening beneath the surface, and the urgent need to protect ocean life.

In 2009, he founded Coastal Impact, a not-for-profit organisation that goes beyond awareness and research into the broader realms of education and marine conservation. Its mission is to study, protect, and restore marine ecosystems. Through hundreds of presentations and sessions with local schools, particularly for underprivileged children, Charloo has taught nearly 3,000 students about the importance of conserving our oceans. His vision is simple yet powerful: he wants every one of us to become an Ocean Ambassador. His classroom, after all, extends far beyond walls into the vast, living classroom of the sea.

Before he became a conservationist, Charloo was part of the urban race. Between 1984 and 1994, he worked as a banker in Hong Kong. But his heart remained with the ocean. In 1994, he became a PADI Instructor, leaving the corporate world a year later to dive full time. He joined Barracuda Diving India in Goa as a freelance instructor, became a partner in 1996, and took over as sole proprietor in 1997. Barracuda became the first PADI and SSI Diamond Instructor Training Centre in the Indian subcontinent – now over 23 years strong. Today, Charloo is regarded as one of India’s most experienced and respected scuba instructors.

“I was a banker earlier,” he smiles, “but in some ways, I still am – only now, I protect a much greater wealth: marine biodiversity and the environment.” True to his word, he has organised underwater and beach clean-ups every year since 1998 at St. George Island in Goa, often leading teams of up to 65 volunteers.

As a tireless Ocean Ambassador, Charloo has led by example, championing the restoration and rewilding of India’s coral reefs to ensure a climate-resilient future. He believes that simply being in the ocean sparks curiosity. Divers start asking questions, and learning begins naturally. When they realise that the oceans produce the majority of the Earth’s oxygen, it inspires them to act. This belief led to Coastal Impact’s ‘Adopt a Coral’ programme, which has successfully completed pilot projects for coral transplantation and artificial reef creation in Goa.

Now 63 years old and still as energetic as ever, Charloo has logged more than 8,500 dives across Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Red Sea, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Palau, Timor Leste, and India, including the Andaman and Laccadive Islands, Kerala, Karnataka, and Goa. Over the years, he has received numerous PADI and SSI awards for excellence in training and customer service, and in 2022, was recognised as one of National Geographic Channel’s Changemakers in India.

He has also participated in underwater research and surveys for the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, the National Institute of Oceanography, the Wildlife Conservation Society, WWF-India, and several other NGOs, working in regions including Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Angria Banks, and the Lakshadweep Islands.

Three decades, thousands of dives, and countless lives inspired – Venkatesh Charloo’s journey is proof that one person’s passion for the ocean can ripple outward into a movement for change.

Venkatesh Charloo’s expertise in popularising scuba diving among thousands and his persistent vigil for the oceans as an instructor and innovator, has helped people fall in love with marine wonderlands. For this we honour Venkatesh Charloo with a Sanctuary Green Teacher Award, 2025.