Local dive shop raises concerns over use of scooters in removing shark teeth off coast

Michelle Saxton -

Collecting fossilized sharks’ teeth underwater is a big draw for divers along North Carolina’s coast, but some local dive shops are questioning how certain methods used to retrieve the artifacts could affect the habitat.

And now a federal agency plans to look into the issue after learning of those concerns.

Captain Bruce Glisson of Blue Ocean Adventures in Carolina Beach sent an e-mail last month to about 100 people involved in marine conservation or research in which he accused a Hatteras-based dive shop of destroying reefs by using scooters to dig or blow into the sand in search of sharks’ teeth.

Glisson’s e-mail, sent Nov. 26, described how he anchored near Outer Banks Diving’s Flying Fish boat earlier that month in the Frying Pan Tower area to look into rumors of alleged reef destruction and saw holes and sand that had been blown away for hundreds of square feet.

"It looked like a dredge or plow had gone through the entire area and cleaned out the reef, displacing the sand and exposing the hard bottom," Glisson’s e-mail said.

Outer Banks Diving president Amy Pieno denied that the company is harming coral reefs.

"We do not own a dredge, we don’t use a dredge," Pieno said Monday, Dec. 6. "There (are) no corals being affected."

Larry Cahoon, professor of biology and marine biology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, said what is being done–not the kind of equipment used to do it–is what matters.

"Mechanical removal of sediment is dredging," Cahoon said Tuesday, Dec. 7, adding that dredging would require a permit.

"And they can’t get a permit to do it there, so that’s that," Cahoon said. "It’s not legal to give a permit for that sort of activity in that habitat."

The Frying Pan Shoals area is far enough off the coast to be under federal jurisdiction under the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, said Cahoon, who saw Glisson’s e-mail after it was forwarded around the university.

Roger Pugliese, a senior fishery biologist with the federal council based in Charleston, S.C., also saw Glisson’s e-mail.

"My initial reaction is that these activities seem similar to sand removal activities employed by treasure salvage operations employed in southern Florida and potentially could impact live hard bottom habitat designated as Essential Fish Habitat by the Council," Pugliese said in an e-mail Dec. 8. "I would think extensive excavations would be permitted under the authority of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and if not permitted they most likely would be illegal.  However, this may not apply to small area excavations. 

We are continuing to follow-up with our State and Federal partners to better define the extent of the activity and have requested NOAA Fisheries Habitat Conservation Division clarify what is known about the activity, its extent, the legal authorities/considerations and identification of habitats and how they may be affected as a result of the activity.

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