We are Sea Reef.
A community where environmental stewardship, innovation and research contribute to a vibrant coastal economy.
To provide leadership to stimulate a culture of coastal environmental awareness and action.
Sea Reef is the summation, continuation and amalgam of our formal moniker: Coastal Environmental Services (CES); becoming the logical extension Coastal Environmental Research, Education and Innovation Foundation (CE-REIF), a 501(c)(3) public charity. Since our official name is a bit much to say repeatedly, as we call ourselves “Sea Reef” for short. As CES, we were recognized nationally and internationally as the best recreational vessel pumpout program. For reasons beyond our control, our vision of clean water, and professionalism were inconsistent with current budgetary trends and program administration. Rather than abandon our principles, we refocused and restructured CES into a foundation that intends to stimulate the kind of thinking, research, education, innovation and stewardship necessary for a sustainable and evolving commitment to clean coastal waters.
Sea Reef is the redirected mission of Coastal Environmental Services. Because of our operational capabilities, we established a collaborative partnership with the Sea Research Foundation (SRF) to work on marine animal related issues such as rescues, release, recovery and the dissection of a Curvier Whale so the skeleton could be used in the New York Museum of Natural History in Albany, NY. As a result of our experience with local culture and attitude about coastal environment, were able to positively impact to create behaviors of environmental stewardship. We created an aggressive communication program along the coastline, and leveraged other institutions such as the Marine Magnet High School in Groton, CT to embed the operation into the culture of an area, making it a truly community based organization.
From a technological perspective, we created an industry leading program www.PumpOut.Me, an online pumpout reservation and vessel management system that removes barriers to boaters doing the right thing and receiving pumpouts and provides the organization with proper oversight of operations while scaling to meet emerging demands.
As CES, we received international recognition from the Commission on Inter-American Ports, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the North American Marine Environmental Protection Association (NAMEPA) at the 2014 conference in Washington DC.
For these reasons, Sea Reef is taking the experience and success of CES, and refocusing those capabilities into a unique resource to interface with the various components as discussed within this plan. Clean waters, a healthy local culture that values environmental stewardship and a hands-on operational understanding of the coastal marine industry makes Sea Reef the common thread that ties the multitude of components and entities together in a special way that impacts culture and behaviors moving away from a reactive approach to keeping our coastal environment clean to one where communities, as a whole, own the coastline thereby eliminating the need for cleanups. This approach captures the hearts and minds of people so environmental stewardship becomes the norm. We need a sustainable change in culture and behavior.