@article{TEXTUAL,
      recid = {10993},
      author = {Guiry, Eric J. and Kennedy, Jonathan R. and O’Connell,  Martin T. and Gray, D. Ryan and Grant, Christopher and  Szpak, Paul},
      title = {Early evidence for historical overfishing in the Gulf of  Mexico},
      journal = {Science Advances},
      address = {2021-08-04},
      number = {TEXTUAL},
      abstract = {Fisheries encompass complex interplays between social,  economic, and environmental factors, but limitations on  historical fisheries data can hamper efforts to identify  and contextualize the long-term spatiotemporal patterns  that shape them. We integrate 2500 years of stable isotope  (δ<sup>34</sup>S, δ<sup>13</sup>C, and δ<sup>15</sup>N) and  zooarchaeological evidence from Gulf of Mexico fisheries to  assess cultural, demographic, and technological changes  affecting sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus)  populations and fishing practices in Louisiana, USA.  Concurrent with human population growth, average sizes of  sheepshead caught decreased from the 1720s to 1830s. The  size of fish caught after the 1830s increased to pre-1720  levels at the same time that isotopic compositions of fish  bone collagen show that fish were being caught from a more  diverse range of ecosystems, including distant seagrass  beds. Our findings provide the first evidence for  large-scale depressions of historical sheepshead  populations and the processes driving them, including rapid  human population growth and sustained harvesting pressure.},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/10993},
}