Mike Harris is known in Port Royal SC as the ‘Shark Tooth Fairy.’
He dives to the bottom of the ocean for shark teeth, and buries them in the sands of Sands Beach for children to find on hunts.
However, the popular shark tooth hunting days may soon be over if the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA) comes down on some missing fossil reports they require.
“It is like the best feeling I’ve ever had,” Mike Harris says of his hunts. “It’s like the best thing I’ve ever done in my life, is to get these fossils and put them on the beach and watch (kids) hunt them.”
It is Harris’ hobby to dive to find fossils and Megalodon teeth. He has plenty of fans, too. The hunts he hosts several times a year draw thousands of kids to the beach.
On his nickname Shark Tooth Fairy, “…It was a name given to me by one of the parents at one of the first hunts,” he says. The name stuck.
However, he says his fossil license is being threatened by the SCIAA. He feels he is unfairly scrutinized.
The SCIAA says there are six reports over Harris’ past 18 months of dives that are missing. They require he send photos of each fossil he found, along with the description of it, where he found it, and when.
“To let me know that my fossil reports aren’t any good, and you want me to redo them with all the fossils I’ve found…it’s impossible,” Harris says.
He says it’s the sheer amount of fossils he’s found, plus the fact that he has given them away in hunts, makes it an impossible task.
His fans, some children, are hoping the hunts can still go on.
“I found this Megalodon tooth that the tooth fairy, the Shark Tooth Fairy had passed out in the water,” gleams one child hunter, Malaki Hardison.
The SCIAA tells WSAV they never said there must be a stop to the hunts, just that the reports must be submitted by March 31. Otherwise, they will revoke Harris’ fossil license.
Harris says this would sink his hobby, and ultimately the hunts.
“It seems like a shame for a state agency to get in the way of something that is obviously by testimony of all the parents…it’s something very good for the kids, very educational,” he says.
Now, fans are petitioning for the reporting requirement to be waived. You can see the petition by clicking here.