Shark Tooth Fairy' finds a friend in state Rep. Erickson in quest to renew license
A state legislator has weighed in on the latest dust-up between the Shark Tooth Fairy and the state agency that licenses hobby divers.
Mike Harris, the Lady's Island man who has drawn a following for his large shark-tooth hunts for children, was denied in his most recent application to renew his license due to incomplete reports. In addition to the hunts, Harris sold teeth online and said he relied on the money as a primary source of income.
Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, wrote the curator who handles required quarterly reports documenting divers' finds, seeking clarification on why Harris was denied the renewal. She said she couldn't find rules requiring certain content in dive reports, only that they be filed.
Erickson wrote the letter after first hearing from people who have participated in the shark-tooth hunts and then from Harris.
"If these are practices that the Institute has in place and is currently using, I would suggest that they are not following the regulations and based on these issues, I request that Mr. Harris' application for relicensure of a SC Hobby Diver's License be accepted and issued," Erickson wrote in an email Monday to Dave Cicimurri, curator of natural history at S.C. State Museum, who handles diver's fossil reports.
Attempts to reach Cicimurri on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Harris' license expired Aug. 15. A letter from the S.C. Institute of Archaeology Maritime Research Division denying the renewal said the licensing agreement requires a list of all artifacts or fossils recovered and locations they were recovered.
An automatic email reply from Nate Fulmer, the hobby license administrator for the Maritime Research Division, said the division's offices are closed until Thursday.
Harris submitted a second-quarter report listing June as the dive date and reported he had recovered "100+" megladon, mako and great white sharks teeth and six mammal teeth and listed two bodies of water where the fossils were found. For the first quarter, he reported "100+" teeth from five species and listed four bodies of water.
The letter denying Harris' license asked him to provide a report for each dive and location, detailing what was recovered.
Erickson said she spent much of the day Monday researching the dive regulations and didn't find requirements to be so specific, only that quarterly reports be filed. She said that if the requested information is required for research purposes, those involved could sit down and draft new regulations.
"Based on what I have right now, I believe Mr. Harris should have his diver's license," Erickson said by phone Tuesday.
The Maritime Research Division's website says hobby divers must report a list of finds and a description of where they are found. It calls for reports to include the body of water and a specific location within that body of water. Harris has tangled with state officials over the regulations before, when he was asked for GPS coordinates of his finds. He said the fossil reports hold little value.
"It's no big secret sharks' teeth are in the ocean," Harris said. "Every three months I have to let them know -- in super-detailed ways, according to the way they're reading the law -- that yep there are still shark teeth in ocean."
Follow reporter Stephen Fastenau at twitter.com/IPBG_Stephen.
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This story was originally published September 29, 2015 at 9:40 AM with the headline "Shark Tooth Fairy' finds a friend in state Rep. Erickson in quest to renew license."