Scooby's bid for aquatic immortality has met with stern disapproval from dive companies which take people to visit the wreck of the Rainbow Warrior.
The former Greenpeace vessel was bombed by French secret service agents in Auckland in 1985, killing one on board. The ship was refloated and towed to MatauriBay in Northland, where it now sits 25m under water.
The wreck sat there largely undisturbed for 18 years until recently, when someone scraped the limpets and crustaceans off its bow and used a knife to carve "SCOOBY 2004" in letters 15cm high on it.
"Scooby" lived near the wreck site, and had been told his actions were unwelcome, said Mike Edkins of Dive North Rainbow Warrior.
"The last thing we want to see on there while we're taking tourists on there, because we do guided dives on there, is some idiot writing his name on there just because he thinks he has a right to."
Local dive companies were annoyed that people sometimes took crayfish because the site was also sacred to Maori.
David Doo, known by his nickname "Scooby", said he had not used a knife to scratch on the boat.
Mr Doo, who is manager of nztramp.com, said: "It was done with a finger, not a knife. I was explaining to a customer how to do a mark and to see how quickly it disappears. It was done at the end of the [diving] season and it will disappear."
He claimed the incident had been "blown out of proportion" because of competition with other dive operators in the area.
