Depredation influences anglers’ perceptions on coastal shark management and conservation in the United States Gulf of Mexico

Overfishing, habitat degradation, and climate change have caused declines in shark populations throughout the world’s oceans. However, in the United States Gulf of Mexico (GoM), populations of several coastal shark species are starting to stabilize following decades of successful regulations and enforcement. The stabilization of coastal shark populations, coupled with increases in recreational fishing effort, has the potential to escalate human-wildlife interactions. The most often reported conflict is shark depredation, the partial or complete removal of a hooked species by a shark. Reported increases in shark depredation within the last several years have begun to erode angler support for shark conservation, potentially undermining decades of previous work. To address these concerns, we implemented a GoM-wide online survey to characterize the impact of depredation on recreational reef fish anglers’ fishing satisfaction and perceptions of shark management and conservation. Our results revealed that most recreational anglers in the GoM have witnessed depredation but have not changed their fishing behaviors. In contrast, anglers’ viewpoints on managing shark populations were split between reducing population sizes and maintaining current population levels. As coastal shark populations in the GoM continue to recover, shark depredation is likely to increase. Consequently, efforts to characterize anglers’ satisfaction and perceptions are a critical component of future shark conservation initiatives

Rapidly Changing Range Limits in a Warming World: Critical Data Limitations and Knowledge Gaps for Advancing Understanding of Mangrove Range Dynamics in the Southeastern USA

Climate change is altering species’ range limits and transforming ecosystems. For example, warming temperatures are leading to the range expansion of tropical, cold-sensitive species at the expense of their cold-tolerant counterparts. In some temperate and subtropical coastal wetlands, warming winters are enabling mangrove forest encroachment into salt marsh, which is a major regime shift that has significant ecological and societal ramifications. Here, we synthesized existing data and expert knowledge to assess the distribution of mangroves near rapidly changing range limits in the southeastern USA. We used expert elicitation to identify data limitations and highlight knowledge gaps for advancing understanding of past, current, and future range dynamics. Mangroves near poleward range limits are often shorter, wider, and more shrublike compared to their tropical counterparts that grow as tall forests in freeze-free, resource-rich environments. The northern range limits of mangroves in the southeastern USA are particularly dynamic and climate sensitive due to abundance of suitable coastal wetland habitat and the exposure of mangroves to winter temperature extremes that are much colder than comparable range limits on other continents. Thus, there is need for methodological refinements and improved spatiotemporal data regarding changes in mangrove structure and abundance near northern range limits in the southeastern USA. Advancing understanding of rapidly changing range limits is critical for foundation plant species such as mangroves, as it provides a basis for anticipating and preparing for the cascading effects of climate-induced species redistribution on ecosystems and the human communities that depend on their ecosystem services