Mostkoff the Great
10/16/2006 4:45:59 PM by Sandy Lindsey
As an avid ocean lover, Ben Mostkoff makes sure that he does as much as he can to preserve everything above and below the water. His recent projects are proof that he’s not playing around when it comes to protecting our resources.
Photo courtesy of Naomi & Ariella Mostkoff
How many people can say that they were underwater in a full communication face mask waiting for Katie Couric to give a prompt to start their segment on the Today show, but got held back by the news of the passing of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis? Ben Mostkoff can.
“It was May of 1994 and we were all wired for sound waiting underwater for our cue for a live broadcast on national television,” says Mostkoff, then Artificial Reef Program Coordinator for the Dade County Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM). “The Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis obit ran for about 20 minutes. So here we are 51 feet underwater in the Anchorage area on the artificial reef known affectionately as the Coté Reef, named after the father of one of our employees who had recently passed away, with our air supply dwindling rapidly.” The segment turned out excellent.
“It was a fascinating experience and really showcased Miami-Dade County’s marine resources. Katie Couric was very excited with the result and said it was one of the few remote broadcasts requiring significant coordination and equipment that went off without the slightest technical difficulty,” he adds.
For 15 years, Mostkoff oversaw the creation of artificial reefs in the waters off of Dade County. Steel ships, concrete structures, prefab structures; all-in-all hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete and limestone to put the Miami waters on the map as a great fishing and diving destination.
“We tried to keep the program open to the public and not operate it in a vacuum,” explains Mostkoff. “We always coordinated our efforts with the sportfishing and diving community.”
Mostkoff now puts those years of government experience to work as an integral part of the Business Development Team at Shoreline Foundation, Inc., a design-build firm that provides, amongst other services, deep-foundation and complete marine-works construction throughout Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. Recent projects include the reconstruction of the sea wall at Bicentennial Park in downtown Miami. The design consists of steel sheet pilings with a concrete cap with concrete formations cantilevered out to form walkways over the water. “Other recent projects include the construction of the Cape Eleuthera Marina in Rock Sound, the reconstruction of the center dock for the Key Biscayne Yacht Club, and the 1,540 foot long breakwater structure for the redesigned Haulover Marina for the Dade County Parks Department in North Dade.” Currently Shoreline Foundation is building the new Rybovich Marina in West Palm Beach, the new Marina Grande in North Miami Beach and the new Port Tamp Bay in Tampa along with other projects which may be viewed on their web site.
“I’m glad to have stayed in the marine industry,” says Mostkoff. “My business partner Kevin Coté and I try to think outside the box. We believe in preventing unnecessary damage to the fragile marine ecosystem rather than stopping the entire project. We are attempting to restore common sense to the management of Florida’s waterways by balancing manatee protection plans, endangered seagrass rules, without letting those and other regulations prevent responsible marine projects instead of serving as environmental guidelines as originally intended.”
Mostkoff grew up on the waters of Miami Beach. He currently takes a break from thinking about construction on the water by going out with his family in their 33-year-old, 22-foot Aquasport open fisherman. “I was a freshman at Boston College when my parents bought the boat,” he is pleased to point out. “I also like to take our two-person, 15-foot Heritage rowing skiff from Little River Marine into Biscayne Bay and explore the grass flats, troll fishing lures and enjoy a picnic lunch with my wife, Debbie. As an aside, I heard that Jimmy Buffet rows the same boat.”