Projects

When “wildfire hazards” (i.e., wildfire, smoke, and extreme heat) occur concurrently, as they have recently in the US West and around the world, their synergistic effects have devastating impacts on human health and well-being. Assistance providers struggle to make decisions about protecting vulnerable groups from compound wildfire hazards (CWHs) because they lack knowledge about where vulnerable groups are most exposed and which protective actions are suitable based on vulnerable groups’ diverse needs and capacities. These decisions are further complicated by trade-offs between protective actions, as when staying inside to reduce smoke exposure increases the chance of heat stress for those who lack air conditioners or electricity to run them. 

The goal of this project is to improve the capacity of assistance providers to proactively protect vulnerable populations from compound wildfire hazards by co-developing an innovative geospatial decision-making framework. By leveraging participatory mapping methods, we will assess the degree of systems thinking used by assistance providers to make decisions about CWHs.

Learn more here.

A key measure of success in recreational fisheries management is angler satisfaction, which can have a powerful effect on angler behavior. We examined two recreational reef fish species in the Gulf, Red Snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) and Greater Amberjack (Seriola dumerili). We focused on the fisheries for these species because overfishing concerns have resulted in numerous regulatory changes over the last several years such as reduced catch limits, shortened fishing seasons, and a transfer to state management. To characterize how these management decisions impacted recreational angler satisfaction, we paired a Gulf-wide online survey with an intercept survey at a fishing tournament in Alabama at three time points between 2022 and 2024. 

Satisfaction changed over time, but these changes manifested differently between the two fisheries and survey modes. For example, among Red Snapper anglers in the Gulf-wide sample, we found nearly three-quarters of all respondents were consistently satisfied with snapper populations and regulations. In the tournament sample, Red Snapper anglers dissatisfied with current regulations nearly doubled between surveys. The opinions of Greater Amberjack anglers were more consistent across survey modes, with satisfaction decreasing over time for both amberjack populations and regulations. Perceived knowledge of fishery science and management processes were strong predictors of satisfaction. Leveraging a mixed methods longitudinal approach, this work reveals a potential pathway to fostering greater satisfaction through knowledge of fishery science and management processes, which could be used to combat recent growth in dissatisfaction among recreational anglers.

This project was funded by the National Sea Grant Program. Learn more here.
Publications forthcoming (in prep)

Regulations and ecosystem changes can have profound effects on commercial fishermen’s livelihoods. Consequently, there has been an increasing emphasis on including stakeholder inputs and perceptions into fisheries regulatory processes. However, these assessments typically focus on a single fishery and are often limited to a single pressure. We used a public document review followed by focus groups with members of the commercial fishing industry to compare the array of risks across multiple fisheries.

Risks that manifested in public domains were largely different — and incomplete — compared to what members of the fishing industry believed were relevant. Further, the fishing industry is concerned with risks that management is not currently designed to address. Finally, despite each fishery having distinct operational, structural, and geographic differences, many of the identified risks were similar or even identical across fisheries. Examining and sharing the lessons learned about risk perceptions across these fisheries highlight both challenges and potential strategies for enhancing fishery resiliency in the United States.

This project was funded by the North Pacific Research Board.
Gibbs et al. 2025 Threats Perceived by Five Prominent US Commercial Fisheries