Venice FL Beach Renourishment 2026: What About Shark Teeth?

"There are fewer shark teeth because we put 200 feet of sand where there was none before," then-Mayor Dean Calamaras told a reporter in 2005. The Ledger printed that line on the eve of the city's second beach restoration. The rest of his answer was just as direct: "You still find them on the beach. You just don't find them in such high numbers."

Twenty-one years later, Venice has done it again. Dredging and sand placement for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Venice Shore Protection Project 2026 ended on August 16. Contractor Weeks Marine said it had put nearly 620,000 cubic yards of sand on the beach in total. The beach that the Shark Tooth Capital of the World built its name on is wider now. It is also buried deeper. Every renourishment brings that trade, and this fall the place it shows up most is the project's south edge.

Where the new sand stops

The City of Venice lists the affected beaches as everything from the Humphris Park South Jetty to South Brohard Park. That includes Venice Beach and Service Club Park. The project covers about 3.2 miles of shoreline. The city describes it as replacing sand lost to background erosion and storm impacts since the last nourishment in 2015. The contract cost $27,495,000, and federal money paid for all of it.

For anyone who carries a sifter, the more useful fact is where the 3.2 miles end. Here is how the familiar tooth-hunting stops line up against the city's project limits:

Visit Venice FL says tooth hunters favor the beaches south of the Venice Jetty. That stretch largely overlaps the zone that just got new sand. Visit Sarasota's guide names Venice Beach, Caspersen Beach, Casey Key and Manasota Key as the area's hunting beaches. It describes the method most people use: work the shoreline wash, then sift through sand and shells.

Why the sand took an extra year to find

The sand was chosen for a reason. WGCU reported in August that the project stalled for a full year because the Army Corps couldn't find the right kind of sand. It needed smooth, quartz-based sand in a white that matched what was left on the beach. The Corps eventually found it about 13 miles offshore of Englewood Beach. The city places the borrow area about 11 nautical miles southwest of the center of the project. In statute miles, the two figures roughly agree.

"We're here now, nearing the end. Everything's coming together really nice," city engineer Steven Berens told WGCU. "Overall the public is happy with the renourishment project."

The search was about matching color and texture. Nothing published about the 2026 project says how many fossils, if any, came up with that offshore sand. That leaves the city's own history as the best guide to how a fresh fill behaves.

Venice has made this trade four times

Venice has been nourishing its beaches for about three decades. WFLA puts the rounds at 1995, 2005, 2015 and now 2026, which makes this year's work arrive 11 years after the last. The 2005 Ledger article dates the first restoration to 1996, so the sources differ by a year on when the cycle started.

The most detailed account of what those rounds did to tooth hunting comes from that 2005 article. Reinhardt Badow, a veteran shark tooth hunter, described a beach where big teeth from big sharks used to turn up regularly. He said that before the first restoration, the same time and effort produced about four times as many teeth. He also said the native layer was already buried too deep, and that the 2005 project would cover it further.

He gave the imported sand some credit, with a limit. "You can still find some teeth, because the sand they used to renourish the beach 10 years ago did have some shark teeth . . . but nothing particularly great," Badow told the paper.

That account is two decades old and describes a different batch of sand from a different borrow site. It shows the pattern Venice has seen before. Fill pumped in from offshore can carry teeth of its own, but it lays a thick new layer over the fossil bed the town became known for. Caspersen Beach sits south of the 2026 project limits, as it did in 2005, and the 2005 report singled it out as the unrenourished option.

No one has published a count of teeth from the 2026 sand, and no study has compared finds inside and outside the project area this year. No source measured how long the effects of the 2015 round lasted, either. Venice is working from precedent here, without data on the new sand.

What is still happening on the sand this month

Three jobs remained on the beach as of the city's September 30 update:

1. Stormwater outfalls. Work is complete at Outfall 4 at Aldea Mar Condo, Outfall 7 at Golden Beach Condo and Outfall 10 at the USCG Station. Outfall 1 at Venice Beach and Outfall 2 at Venice Sands Condo were expected to finish by mid-October. Outfall 1 sits about 400 feet south of the Venice Beach Pavilion.
2. Rock remediation and sand tilling. Weeks Marine expected to finish both across the project area by late October.
3. Pipe removal. Turtle nests near the last onshore sand pipes had hatched, so the contractor could take those pipes out.

WWSB reported on September 30 that the project included extending five stormwater outfalls. By early October the project was being called finished. WFLA covered it on October 2 with U.S. Army Corps Major Cory Bell summing up the new beach in two words, "It widens," and Mayor Nick Pachota calling the place "our paradise."

Brohard Paw Park is the access to keep an eye on. The beach portion closed repeatedly during the work. The city's latest dated notice, posted October 6, announced a one-day closure on October 7 for sand tilling nearby. Sarasota County's park listing still shows beach access and a dog park there, but neither the city nor the county has confirmed the beach side's status since then. The city's update page is the place to check before you drive over with a dog.

The sand also went down in the middle of nesting season. WGCU reported that experts at Mote Marine Laboratory moved 500 sea turtle nests to make room for it. The city notes that sea turtle season runs May 1 through October 31. The city says federal funding constraints forced the Corps to build during nesting season.

Working the new beach this season

The renourished stretch is open apart from active work zones. Throughout the project, the city has said beaches outside active construction would stay open. The City of Venice facility listing describes the Venice Fishing Pier as open around the clock and free, with Papa's Bait Shop on site and Sharky's next door. Visit Venice FL still points tooth hunters to that pier as a first stop.

What the pier area is like for hunting this fall is something only a season of sifting will show. Whatever turns up near the pier, the beaches past South Brohard Park didn't get new sand this year. That includes Caspersen Beach and, farther south, Manasota Key.

There's a date ahead for comparing notes. The official festival site lists the next Venice Sharks Tooth Festival for April 10–11, 2027. That will be the first one held on the 2026 sand.

If you'd like to know which streets and neighborhoods sit closest to Caspersen, the pier or the Service Club Park access, A Classic Approach is glad to walk through it with you. We know Venice by its beach accesses as well as by its listings. Schedule a Free Market Consultation, and we'll start with the stretch of sand you use most.