Fossil dermal denticles reveal the preexploitation baseline of a Caribbean coral reef shark community

Preexploitation shark baselines and the history of human impact on coral reef-associated shark communities in the Caribbean are poorly understood. We recovered shark dermal denticles from midHolocene (similar to 7 ky ago) and modern reef sediments in Bocas del Toro, Caribbean Panama, to reconstruct an empirical shark baseline before major human impact and to quantify how much the modern shark community in the region had shifted from this historical reference point. We found that denticle accumulation rates, a proxy for shark abundance, declined by 71% since the mid-Holocene. All denticle morphotypes, which reflect shark community composition, experienced significant losses, but those morphotypes found on fastswimming, pelagic sharks (e.g., families Carcharhinidae and Sphyrnidae) declined the most. An analysis of historical records suggested that the steepest decline in shark abundance occurred in the late 20th century, coinciding with the advent of a targeted shark fishery in Panama. Although the disproportionate loss of denticles characterizing pelagic sharks was consistent with overfishing, the large reduction in denticles characterizing demersal species with low commercial value (i.e., the nurse shark Ginglymostoma cirratum) indicated that other stressors could have exacerbated these declines. We demonstrate that the denticle record can reveal changes in shark communities over long ecological timescales, helping to contextualize contemporary abundances and inform shark management and ecology.

Automated summary

The study in Caribbean Panama found that shark abundance declined by 71% since the mid-Holocene, with pelagic sharks experiencing the most significant losses. The analysis suggested that the steepest decline occurred in the late 20th century, possibly due to targeted shark fishing activities in the region.