Responsibilities
- Conducting research on the environmental ecology of vulnerable species to better understand the relationship between the environment and species distribution, movement and catch.
- Developing tools to explore the implementation of dynamic ocean management for assessing and mitigating risks to vulnerable species .
- Investigating the role of the species in the community and the ecosystem, and help develop prioritization of conservation actions.
- Conducting research to assess and mitigate the effects of climate change on species, their habitats, and fisheries, with special emphasis on understanding their resilience and co-developing adaptation plans with stakeholders.
Education
- PhD in Marine Science 2020, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William & Mary, Gloucester Point, Virginia
- Master's in Biology 2015, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, California
- B.S. in Marine Biology 2012, University of New England, Biddeford, Maine
Biography
Dr. Dan Crear has joined the IATTC in 2023 as the Senior Quantitative Vulnerable Species Ecologist in the Ecosystems and Bycatch Program. Dan's work on vulnerable species began during his Masters work where he identified the effects of urbanized habitats on the movements and habitat use of green sea turtle in southern California. After that, he shifted to studying the influence of climate change on the current and future distributions of target and non-target species in the Atlantic during his PhD. While working with NOAA, Dan developed habitat models for vulnerable species to assess and modify large, closed areas designed to reduce bycatch in highly migratory species fisheries.
Dan uses Fisheries, environmental and telemetry data with quantitative methods to understand the relationship between species and their environment to help reduce bycatch-fisheries interactions and predict how a changing climate may alter those interactions, as well as to develop climate-resilient fisheries and adaptation plans. Dan values conducting applied science that can be directly integrated into fisheries management and emphasizes the importance of properly communicating science and engaging to various stakeholders in participatory approaches.
Committees
- Distribution Mapping and Analysis Working Group, 2023
- CLIOTOP Task Team, 2023-present
- Climate Vulnerability Assessment (CVA) of Highly Migratory Species, 2022 - present
- Expert Workshop of Climate Vulnerability and Fisheries, 2023-present
- Ecosystem Group and Life History Group for SEDAR 58 Cobia Stock Assessment, 2019
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- Crear, D.P., CD Peterson, JM Higgs, JM Hendon, ER Hoffmayer 2023. Ontogenetic habitat partitioning among four shark species within a nursery ground. Marine and Freshwater Research 74 (16)
- Braun, C., Lezama-Ochoa, N., Farchadi, N., Arostegui M.C., Alexander, M., Allyn, A., Bograd, S., Brodie, S., Crear, D.P., Curtis, T., Hazen, E., Kerney, A., Mills, K., Pugh, D., Scott, J., Welch, H., Young-Morse, R., Lewison, R. 2023. Widespread habitat loss and redistribution of marine top predators in a changing ocean. Science Advances
- Braun, C., Farchadi, N., Alexander, M., Afonso, P., Allyn, A., Bograd, S., Brodie, S., Crear, D.P., Culhane, E., Curtis, T., Hazen, E., Kerney, A., Lezama-Ochoa, N., Mills, K., Pugh, D., Queiroz, N., Scott, J., Skomal, G., Sims, D., Thorrold, S., Welch, H., Young-Morse, R., Lewison, R. 2023. Building use-inspired species distribution models: using multiple data types to examine and improve model performance. Ecological Applications
- Crear, D.P., Curtis, T.H., Hutt, C.P., Yong-Woo, L. 2023. Climate-influenced shifts in a highly migratory species recreational fishery. Fisheries Oceanography
- Friedland, K.D., Adams, E.M., Goetsch C., Gulka, J., Brady, D.C., Rzeszowski, E., Crear, D.P., Gaichas, S., Gill, A.B., McManus, M.C., Methratta, E.T., Morano, J.L., Staudinger, M.D. 2022. Offshore wind energy areas represent core habitat for increasing fish and macroinvertebrate populations on the US Northeast Shelf ecosystem. Marine and Coastal Fisheries
- Crear, D.P., Curtis T.H., Durkee, S., Carlson J.K. 2021. Highly migratory species predictive spatial modeling (PRiSM): An analytical framework for assessing the performance of spatial fisheries management. Marine Biology
- Friedland, K.D., Methratta, E., Gill, A., Gaichas, S., Curtis, T., Adams, E., Morano, J., Crear, D.P., McManus, C. and Brady, D.C. 2021. Resource Occurrence and Productivity in Existing and Proposed Wind Energy Lease Areas on the US Northeast Shelf. Frontiers in Marine Science
- Crear, D.P., BE Watkins, MAM Friedrichs, P St-Laurent, KC Weng 2020. Estimating shifts in phenology and habitat use of cobia in Chesapeake Bay under climate change. Frontiers in Marine Science
- Crear, D.P., BE Watkins, VS Saba, JE Graves, DR Jensen, AJ Hobday, Kevin C. Weng 2020. Contemporary and future distributions of cobia, Rachycentron canadum. Diversity and Distributions
- Crear, D.P., RW Brill, LML Averilla, SC Meakem, KC Weng 2020. In the face of climate change and exhaustive exercise: the physiological response of an important recreational fish species. Royal Society open science