The Federal Legal Framework
In the United States, fossil collecting law is fragmented across federal, state, and local jurisdictions — and it matters profoundly which type of land you are on.
On federal public lands managed by the National Park Service, the Antiquities Act and the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act of 2009 (PRPA) apply. Within National Parks and Monuments, collection of any fossil material — including shark teeth — is prohibited without a scientific permit, regardless of how the specimen was found. Violations are federal offenses.
On Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) lands, the PRPA distinguishes between casual surface collection of common invertebrate and plant fossils (generally permitted for personal use, not sale) and vertebrate fossils (which require a permit even for surface collection). Shark teeth are vertebrate fossils under the PRPA. Violation of the PRPA carries civil and criminal penalties including fines and imprisonment.
State Rules: Florida, Maryland, South Carolina, and North Carolina
State regulations vary significantly. Florida's public freshwater waterways — including the Peace River, the Alafia River, and their tributaries — allow casual recreational collection of fossil invertebrates and common vertebrate fossils for personal use only, under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Commercial sale of peace-river fossils without a state permit is prohibited. Scientifically significant specimens (associated skeletal material, rare or undescribed taxa) should be reported to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
In Maryland, Calvert Cliffs State Park and neighboring Calvert County beaches permit surface collecting of fossils on the beach below the high tide line but explicitly prohibit climbing, digging, or disturbing the cliff faces. The prohibition on cliff disturbance is both legal and safety-based — cliff slumps are a genuine hazard.
South Carolina's Ashley and Cooper River areas involve a mixture of private property, state submerged lands (river bottoms), and public trust tidelands. Access requires careful verification of land ownership. North Carolina's Aurora PCS Phosphate mine (now operated by Nutrien) historically offered public access to spoil piles during scheduled fossil shows — verify current access status directly with the Aurora Fossil Museum before any visit.
The Intertidal Zone and Beach Access
In most US coastal states, the intertidal zone (between mean high tide and mean low tide lines) is public property under the public trust doctrine — the legal principle holding that coastal tidelands are held by the state for public benefit. This means that surface collecting on a tidal beach is generally legal regardless of adjacent upland ownership, as long as you remain below the high tide line.
This does not mean digging into beach substrate is universally permitted. Many state beach management regulations prohibit any digging on managed public beaches regardless of tidal position. The practical guidance: surface collect in the wet swash zone and below, where the best material accumulates hydrodynamically anyway, and avoid any activity that could be construed as digging or altering beach contour.
Cliff faces are uniformly more restricted than beaches — the geological resource is actively eroding and scientific protocols require that cliff exposures be documented before material is removed. The beach collecting of naturally slumped material is the appropriate mode at all cliff sites.
Private Land and the Unwritten Code
Many of the best collecting sites are on private land. The Peace River passes through numerous private parcels. The correct approach: identify the landowner through county property records (publicly available online in most Florida and South Carolina counties), contact them politely, describe exactly what you want to do, and ask permission. Most rural landowners are surprised to be asked and respond positively when approached with respect. Build the relationship.
Beyond legality, there is a collector community code: share knowledge generously within the community; do not poach known active spots without invitation; take your trash and any trash you see; do not disturb natural concentration deposits or geological features unnecessarily; and report anything scientifically extraordinary — a partial skull, an articulated skeleton, in-context associated fauna — to a university or museum. These finds belong to science first. Personal collection and scientific documentation are not mutually exclusive: a proper photograph and GPS record of in-situ context is often all science needs, and you may still keep your surface-collected specimens.