Mr Sefano M Katz is a coastal tropical applied ecologist, environmentalist, sailor, and diver. Sefano is based in Fiji, as the program director of the Beqa Lagoon Initiative (BLI) he co-founded in 2016. With the PBF team, he develops innovative and applied projects that span across culture, ecosystem conservation, community development and enhancing education in remote maritime communities, supporting cross-sectoral co-management of the Beqa-Yanuca Seascape.

Sefano grew up on the Israeli coast of the Mediterranean Sea and had started his professional career developing coral reef restoration methods in the Red Sea with the Israel Limnological & Oceanographic Research Institution, the University of Haifa the Ruppin Academic Centre, where he obtained his BSc in 2010. Sefano spent 5 years in Australia, where he undertook a variety of research work and expeditions, investigating aspects of coral reef health with James Cook University and the Australian Institute of Marine Science. He worked with the Australian government and NGOs applying some of his work to support active management of the Australian Great Barrier Reef.

Sefano is an active member of the UN FAO Global-Hub for Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge and Food Systems, an associate member of the Australian Center for Pacific Islands Research, and an executive committee member of the Fiji Locally Managed Marine Area Network.