“Lists of research priorities help scientists, especially early career scientists, to choose a research project that can have a real impact,” Shiffman said.
To generate this list of research priorities, the team from ASU’s New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences surveyed 86 experts from the fields of scientific research, environmental advocacy, natural resource and fisheries management, endangered species conservation and industry from throughout the United States.
Similar priorities were combined, resulting in 205 submissions being rephrased and combined into 35 research priorities.
Concerns about the ecological impacts of recovering great white shark populations were also mentioned, along with concerns surrounding the sandbar shark research fishery, a unique industry-science collaboration that allows fishers to kill an otherwise protected species if they collect data for scientists.
“The reason this kind of work is so important, and so necessary, is that are many, many scientists motivated to make a difference right at this moment in history, but they don’t necessarily know where to apply their efforts to maximize their impact,” said Lara Ferry, senior author and ASU President’s Professor.