Papers by Sarah Buckley
Conservation Letters, 2015
Ecological degradation is accelerating, reducing our ability to detect and reverse declines. Reso... more Ecological degradation is accelerating, reducing our ability to detect and reverse declines. Resource user accounts have the potential to provide critical information on past change but their reliability can rarely be tested, hence they are often perceived as less valid than other forms of scientific data. We compared individual fishers' catch records, recorded 1-50 years ago, with their memories of past good, typical and poor catches for the corresponding time period. Good and poor catches were recalled with reasonable accuracy, matching variability in recorded catch with no significant change observed over time. Typical recalled catches were overestimated and became significantly more exaggerated over time, but were more comparable to mean than median recorded values. While accuracy of resource users' memory varied with the type of information recalled, our results suggest that carefully structured interview questions can produce reliable quantitative data to inform resource management, even after several decades have elapsed.
Fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) support productive and valuable fisheries yet are extremely vul... more Fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) support productive and valuable fisheries yet are extremely vulnerable to overexploitation and depletion. Assessment and subsequent management of FSA fisheries requires analysis of long-term spatio-temporal trends in fishery catch and effort to overcome shifting baselines. We compile newspaper archives, fisher knowledge, and contemporary catch logs to reconstruct a century-long commercial catch time series for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Spanish mackerel FSA fishery (1911-2011). After correcting for changes in fishing power and effort, average catch rates were found to decline nearly 3-fold, from 140 to 40 fish vessel-1 trip-1 between 1934 and 2011. Spatial effort contracted to just 22% of FSA areas presumably as FSAs were extirpated. Fishers travelled further offshore from traditional spawning grounds due to the commercial extinction of the northern spawning fishery, declining catch rates and the incursion of recreational effort. Recreational fi...
Jellyfish (medusae) are sometimes the most noticeable and abundant members of coastal planktonic ... more Jellyfish (medusae) are sometimes the most noticeable and abundant members of coastal planktonic communities, yet ironically, this high conspicuousness is not reflected in our overall understanding of their spatial distributions across large expanses of water. Here, we set out to elucidate the spatial (and temporal) patterns for five jellyfish species (Phylum Cnidaria, Orders Rhizostomeae and Semaeostomeae) across the Irish & Celtic Seas, an extensive shelf-sea area at Europe’s northwesterly margin encompassing several thousand square kilometers. Data were gathered using two independent methods: (1) surface-counts of jellyfish from ships of opportunity, and (2) regular shoreline surveys for stranding events over three consecutive years. Jellyfish species displayed distinct species-specific distributions, with an apparent segregation of some species. Furthermore, a different species composition was noticeable between the northern and southern parts of the study area. Most importantly, our data suggests that jellyfish distributions broadly reflect the major hydrographic regimes (and associated physical discontinuities) of the study area, with mixed water masses possibly acting as a trophic barrier or non-favourable environment for the successful growth and reproduction of jellyfish species.
Conference Presentations by Sarah Buckley
Books by Sarah Buckley
Marine environmental history analyses the changing relationships between human societies and mari... more Marine environmental history analyses the changing relationships between human societies and marine natural resources over time. This is the first book which deals in a
systematic way with the theoretical backgrounds of this discipline. Major theories and methods are introduced by leading scholars of the field. The book seeks to encapsulate
some of the major novelties of this fascinating new discipline and its contribution to the management, conservation and restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems as well as the cultural heritages of coastal communities in different parts of the world.
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Papers by Sarah Buckley
Conference Presentations by Sarah Buckley
Books by Sarah Buckley
systematic way with the theoretical backgrounds of this discipline. Major theories and methods are introduced by leading scholars of the field. The book seeks to encapsulate
some of the major novelties of this fascinating new discipline and its contribution to the management, conservation and restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems as well as the cultural heritages of coastal communities in different parts of the world.
systematic way with the theoretical backgrounds of this discipline. Major theories and methods are introduced by leading scholars of the field. The book seeks to encapsulate
some of the major novelties of this fascinating new discipline and its contribution to the management, conservation and restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems as well as the cultural heritages of coastal communities in different parts of the world.