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1. Testing the Ontogenetic Migration Hypothesis in the emerging Rhode Island Jonah crab (Cancer borealis) fishery using stable isotope analysis

   Agvent, Lindsay; Truesdale, Corinne; Piccone, Sofia; McMahon, Kelton W (February 2024, Ocean Sciences Meeting)

   In southern New England, rapid ocean warming over the past two decades has caused substantial redistributions of fishes, invertebrates, and the fisheries they support. The rapid emergence of the warm water-tolerant Jonah crab (Cancer borealis) fishery, once discarded as bycatch from the now declining lobster fishery, illustrates a prime example of climate-adaptive shifts in southern New England fisheries. However, limited data exist on the basic life history of Jonah crabs, despite their growing economic and societal value. This hinders ocean management capacity to meet multiple ecological, economic, and socio-cultural goals of sustainable harvest. Off the southern coast of Rhode Island, Jonah crabs are currently harvested in two fishery zones (inshore and offshore) delineated as holdovers from the lobster management zones. Jonah crabs landed in the offshore fishing zone are significantly larger, on average, than those landed in the inshore fishing zone. This presentation gives an overview of a study developed to test the hypothesis that these size differences reflect ontogenetic migration of Jonah crabs from the inshore to offshore fishing zones. To do this, we developed seasonally resolved isoscapes (isotope maps) of the region, which revealed distinct geospatial gradients in environmental stable isotope values between inshore and offshore necessary to track potential movement of Jonah crabs between fishing zones. We then used stable isotope analysis of three Jonah crab tissues with differential metabolic turnover times: the carapace (reflecting residence one year ago), muscle (reflecting residence averaged over the last ~4 months), and hepatopancreas (reflecting residence averaged over the last ~4 weeks) to construct an “isotopic clock” of residence throughout the regional isoscapes. This work provides key data on critical life history characteristics of the Jonah crab through a collaborative effort by scientists at the University of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to inform management decisions on this emerging climate-adaptive fishery. 

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2. CONCH FRITTERS THROUGH TIME: HUMAN PREDATION AND POPULATION DEMOGRAPHICS OF LOBATUS GIGAS ON SAN SALVADOR ISLAND, THE BAHAMAS

   https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2018.054  

   RUGA, MIKAELA R.; MEYER, DAVID L.; HUNTLEY, JOHN WARREN (August 2019, PALAIOS)

   ABSTRACT Lobatus gigas, the queen conch, is a central component of Caribbean cuisine but over-fishing of juveniles has threatened the stability of wild populations. Strombid gastropods, upon reaching sexual maturity, cease growing along the shell length axis and continue growing in width via a flared and thickened shell lip. This morphology serves as a useful indicator of an individual's sexual maturity. Here we examine temporal trends in population demographics, size, and morphology of harvested L. gigas individuals over the last ∼1 ky from San Salvador Island, the Bahamas to quantify the dynamics of human-induced stress on the local queen conch fishery. We collected 284 human-harvested individuals from shell middens at seven localities, measured seven morphological variables, and classified the specimens as either adult or juvenile. We randomly selected 64 of these shells for rapid AMS radiocarbon dating in order to establish three geochronological bins: Lucayan (Pre-European invasion, 1492 CE), Modern (∼102 y), and Global (∼101 y). The proportion of juveniles harvested increased significantly from 47% (Lucayan) to 61% (Modern) to 68% (Global) suggesting increasing pressure on the fishery through time. Patterns in body size and morphology diverge between adults and juveniles and are likely the result of an increase in the proportion of harvested juveniles, the selection of smaller juveniles through time, and possibly changes in fishing methods. This size selective predation did not result in the suppression of adult body size as found in other studies. Geohistorical data, such as these, are vital for providing long term ecological context for addressing anthropogenic ecological degradation and are central to the conservation paleobiology approach. 

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3. Pandemic-driven changes in the nearshore non-commercial fishery in Hawai’i: catch photos posted to social media capture changes in fisher behavior

   https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14994  

   Grabowski, Timothy; Benedum, Michelle E.; Curley, Andrew; Dill-De Sa, Cole; Shuey, Michelle (January 2023, PeerJ)

   Using social media, we collect evidence for how nearshore fisheries are impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic in Hawai’i. We later confirm our social media findings and obtain a more complete understanding of the changes in nearshore non-commercial fisheries in Hawai’i through a more conventional approach—speaking directly with fishers. Resource users posted photographs to social media nearly three times as often during the pandemic with nearly double the number of fishes pictured per post. Individuals who fished for subsistence were more likely to increase the amount of time spent fishing and relied more on their catch for food security. Furthermore, individuals fishing exclusively for subsistence were more likely to fish for different species during the pandemic than individuals fishing recreationally. Traditional data collection methods are resource-intensive and this study shows that during times of rapid changes, be it ecological or societal, social media can more quickly identify how near shore marine resource use adapts. As climate change threatens additional economic and societal disturbances, it will be necessary for resource managers to collect reliable data efficiently to better target monitoring and management efforts. 

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4. Carbon, Climate, and Collapse: Coupling Climate Feedbacks and Resource Dynamics to Predict Societal Collapse

   https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13090727  

   Savitsky, Greta; Burnett, Grace; Beckage, Brian (September 2025, Systems)

   Anthropogenic climate change threatens production of essential natural resources, including food, fiber, and fresh water, and provisioning of ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, increasing the risk of societal collapse. The Human and Nature Dynamics (HANDY) model simulates the effect of resource overexploitation on societal collapse but lacks representation of feedbacks between climate change and resource regeneration in ecological systems. We extend the HANDY model by integrating models of climate change and ecological function to examine the risk of societal collapse. We conducted a sensitivity analysis of our expanded model by systematically varying key parameters to examine the range of plausible socio-ecological conditions and evaluate model uncertainty. We find that lowered greenhouse gas emissions and resilient ecosystems can delay societal collapse by up to approximately 500 years, but that any scenario with greater than net-zero greenhouse gas emissions ultimately leads to societal collapse driven by climate-induced loss of ecosystem function. Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the most effective intervention to delay or prevent societal collapse, followed by the conservation and management of resilient ecological systems to sequester atmospheric carbon. 

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5. Positive Social-Ecological Feedbacks in Community-Based Conservation

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.652318  

   Quintana, Anastasia C.; Giron-Nava, Alfredo; Urmy, Samuel; Cramer, Alli N.; Domínguez-Sánchez, Santiago; Rodríguez-Van Dyck, Salvador; Aburto-Oropeza, Octavio; Basurto, Xavier; Weaver, Amy Hudson (May 2021, Frontiers in Marine Science)

   null (Ed.)

   Marine area-based conservation measures including no-take zones (areas with no fishing allowed) are often designed through lengthy processes that aim to optimize for ecological and social objectives. Their (semi) permanence generates high stakes in what seems like a one-shot game. In this paper, we theoretically and empirically explore a model of short-term area-based conservation that prioritizes adaptive co-management: temporary areas closed to fishing, designed by the fishers they affect, approved by the government, and adapted every 5 years. In this model, no-take zones are adapted through learning and trust-building between fishers and government fisheries scientists. We use integrated social-ecological theory and a case study of a network of such fisheries closures (“fishing refugia”) in northwest Mexico to hypothesize a feedback loop between trust, design, and ecological outcomes. We argue that, with temporary and adaptive area-based management, social and ecological outcomes can be mutually reinforcing as long as initial designs are ecologically “good enough” and supported in the social-ecological context. This type of adaptive management also has the potential to adapt to climate change and other social-ecological changes. This feedback loop also predicts the dangerous possibility that low trust among stakeholders may lead to poor design, lack of ecological benefits, eroding confidence in the tool’s capacity, shrinking size, and even lower likelihood of social-ecological benefits. In our case, however, this did not occur, despite poor ecological design of some areas, likely due to buffering by social network effects and alternative benefits. We discuss both the potential and the danger of temporary area-based conservation measures as a learning tool for adaptive co-management and commoning. 

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