Meet Melissa Sathe | President of FOFR | M.S. in Marine Science

We had the good fortune of connecting with Melissa Sathe and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melissa, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?

The number one thing that people outside our industry are unaware of has to be the existence of coral reefs in Florida. Millions of Floridians live along the coast, six million live in counties that border Florida’s Coral Reef, yet many Floridians don’t even know it’s out there. The coral reef ecosystem is vast, stretching almost 350 miles from the Dry Tortugas to the St. Lucie Inlet . Florida’s Coral Reef is the only extensive, shallow coral reef formation in the continental United States. Not only that, but our coral reef is accessible, most of the reef can be enjoyed with a short swim from shore. Coral reefs provide so much to Floridians without them even knowing, including protecting hundreds of millions of dollars in assets by acting as a barrier through storm surge, erosion, and hurricanes, medicinal research, recreation, and economic value. NOAA suggests that coral reefs in Southeast Florida have an asset value of $8.5 billion and generate $4.4 billion dollars in local sales and $2 billion dollars in local income. Coral reefs are home to 25% of all marine species, despite covering less than 1% of the ocean floor, making them one of the most diverse ecosystems. It’s where our beloved marine animals like turtles live, mate, and feed. However, these ecosystems are delicate, we have seen a huge decrease not only in biodiversity in our coral, but a decrease in the overall coral cover too. In Florida, we have lost an estimated 90% of our corals in the last 40 years.

Alright, so let’s jump right in! The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there a person, group, organization, book, etc that you want to dedicate your shoutout to? Who else deserves a little credit and recognition in your story?

Friends of Our Florida Reefs (FOFR) was established in 2015 thanks to our founders, Kevin Senecal and Scott Sheckman. The concept was first introduced by Founder and First Board President, Scott Sheckman, who has been a champion for Florida’s Coral Reefs and the environment overall. The idea behind FOFR was fueled by the State’s Our Florida Reefs community planning process. Their efforts along with many other volunteers and local key players like Commissioner Beam Furr made FOFR a reality. The catalyst event that made Sheckman think to start a nonprofit was Stony coral tissue loss disease epidemic (SCTLD) and a particularly bad outbreak that occurred in 2015. This outbreak decimated Florida’s coral reef ecosystem, where over 25% of the corals died within a two-year time span of monitoring. This year marks 10 years as a nonprofit organization and over this time, we have been able to raise funds to support the critical efforts of the Florida DEP’s coral conservation programs, the mission of the organization.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally? Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way? What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?

At Friends of Our Florida Reefs (FOFR) we support the critical efforts of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) and the Coral Protection and Restoration (CPR) Program. We are the bridge between these integral government-run programs and the public. Our efforts focus on outreach, education, raising funds to fill gaps in the programs, partnering with like minded organizations, and sponsoring meetings to bring coral reef stakeholders together. We attend many outreach events every year and have an exciting and educational social media presence thanks to our partners in marketing Conscious Content Clips. Follow us on Instagram @floridareefs.

Right now, we’re extremely excited about our upcoming tri-county reef cleanup on July 13, 2025. Over the past few months we have been working extensively with  DEP and local dive shops to bring divers this cleanup, officially titled the 14th Annual Southeast Florida Coral Reef Cleanup. We have these cleanups annually, but typically they’re with more dive shops spread out over the course of two months. This year, we have selected five dive shops in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties that really focus on ocean conservation and have all five dive boats out at the same time cleaning debris off different parts of Florida’s coral reef system. If you’re a business that wants to get involved as a sponsor or you’re a diver that wants to participate, find more information on our website at www.floridareef.org/reef-cleanup

Thank you to our Reef Ambassadors: Ace Diving, DECO Divers, Sea Experience, Kyalami Divers, and Pura Vida Divers, as well as our Reef Cleanup Sponsors: Rock The Ocean, Gug Underwater, Coast Eco-Group Inc., Merrill G. & Emita E. Hastings Foundation, and David Vance for contributing to this event and helping it become more accessible for divers participating!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc. In your view what are some of the most fun, interesting, exciting people, places or things to check out?

If our bestie was a certified scuba diver, we would take him/her on a local dive with one of our partner Reef Ambassador dive shops. If they weren’t, we would take them for a snorkel session off the beach in Fort Lauderdale at Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, which has a beautiful accessible reef teeming with life. We would spend many of our days this way, hitting different local shore dives along the coast. If it gets too hot, we’ll bring it (mostly) inside by visiting some of the amazing conservation organizations with facilities we can visit like the MEEC, the Marine Environmental Education Center in Hollywood, the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Discovery & Science, The Frost Science Museum, the Anne Kolb Nature Center, and Loggerhead Marinelife Center.

Website: https://www.floridareef.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/floridareefs/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/floridareef.org

Other: https://www.floridareef.org/newsletter

https://www.floridareef.org/reef-cleanup