As Halloween approaches, a spooky campaign aims to clear up the common misunderstandings about some of nature's most feared creatures.

In collaboration with other organizations, Defenders of Wildlife is launching its "Real Scary Movies" campaign, to highlight how animals often vilified in horror stories - like sharks, bats, and wolves - are vital to the health of their ecosystems.

Jane Davenport, senior attorney with Defenders of Wildlife, said she hopes to dispel these myths - many of which she said have been fueled by Hollywood blockbusters, like the 1975 movie Jaws.

"Obviously, a shark attack on a human is a terrifying and, unfortunately, sometimes tragic event," said Davenport. "There's only about 70 unprovoked shark attacks on people every year, all around the world. But on the other hand, humans are killing northwards of 80 million sharks every year."

Davenport said she believes the shark's frightening reputation has contributed to a lack of focus on their preservation, leading some species toward extinction.

The shark-fishing industry defends its practices by claiming U.S. shark fisheries are among the most sustainable, with laws that prevent overfishing and enhance economic value.

The campaign urges the public to make more sustainable choices of seafood and consumer products, and to look beyond the scary imagery - even if it's just for Halloween fun.

For Davenport, the public should recognize that the real "spooky and scary" story is how human activities pose a significant threat to wildlife.

"Species like sharks and bats and wolves are not out there trying to do anything other than than live their lives," said Davenport. "And so, we really need to bring awareness and do some myth-busting, to try to dispel the image that these are creepy, scary creatures."

In the spirit of the season, the campaign will put a unique twist on popular scary movies to highlight the harmful impacts of issues like bycatch - when non-target marine animals are inadvertently hooked or netted by fishermen targeting other species.

It's a different perspective to consider while binging the Jaws series.

California has set a goal to protect 30% of its land and waters by the year 2030, so the Ocean Protection Council is working on which waters should count as protected and is identifying new conservation measures.

A public comment period on its draft framework just ended.

Drew Talley, professor of environmental and ocean sciences at the University of San Diego, said the proposal is on the right track but needs a little more work when it comes to estuaries, where the rivers meet the sea.

"It doesn't look at some of the main threats those systems are facing," Talley explained. "Including sea level rise, degraded water quality and ongoing effects of historical alterations like dams and diking and urban runoff."

The Ocean Protection Council is expected to release its final proposal Dec. 9. Estuaries are crucial habitat for many species. They also buffer communities from floods during a storm, reduce ocean acidification and help fight climate change, since marine plants store a great deal of carbon.

Kerstin Wasson, research coordinator for the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve near Monterey, said the contours of protected areas need to be widened, to account for the effects of climate change.

"With accelerated sea level rise, they're going to need a lot of space to migrate upwards," Wasson urged. "If we were to draw a circle around an estuary to say what's protected, it needs to be 10 feet above where the marsh is today."

More than 90% of California's historic wetlands have been lost to development.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.


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Anglers along the Atlantic coast want stricter regulations to help improve stocks of Atlantic herring, a forage fish vital to a healthy ocean ecosystem.

The population was once depleted from decades of overfishing and has struggled to recover, affecting the health of larger, prized fish up the food chain.

Rich Hittinger, first vice president of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association, said it hurts local fishermen and the small coastal businesses that support them.

"We see the striped bass and the other fish not showing up in an area," Hittinger observed. "Because the forage fish aren't there."

Anglers have asked the New England Fishery Management Council to reestablish a 12-mile offshore buffer zone for large herring trawlers. Nearly all respondents to a recent public comment period backed further actions to protect the Atlantic herring and other forage fish.

A recent assessment of Atlantic herring stock showed little progress has been made in rebuilding the population. Despite increased management, federal regulators say the likelihood of meeting stock targets for next year is less than 1%.

Jaclyn Higgins, forage fish program manager for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said she is concerned the science driving harvest restrictions of forage fish has not caught up with what is happening in the ocean.

"We really want to make sure that we use all of the information that we have to move this ecosystem-based management framework forward," Higgins urged. "Improve the models, improve what we have, and not stay stagnant with the status quo."

Higgins noted the Atlantic herring stock currently sits at just 26% of its biomass target. She is hopeful more data collection and research funding will lead to regionally specific and precautionary measures to better protect fisheries and the communities they serve.

Marine biologists conducting deep dives near five California islands are collecting data they hope will strengthen the case for ending gillnet fishing within a three-mile radius. The Channel Islands often are called the "Galapagos of North America" - due to their diverse ecosystem.

Caitlynn Birch, a marine scientist with the group Oceana, is part of a dive team collecting environmental DNA water samples and said they're analyzed in a lab to detect virtually all the animals and plants there, through the "footprint" they leave behind in the water column.

"This is important because the Channel Islands is an extremely biodiverse region, due to the topography of the sea floor, due to the oceanographic currents - and so, it creates a really unique habitat for many animals," she explained.

Fisherman use invisible gillnets along the seafloor to catch profitable halibut and white sea bass. But whales, sea lions and sharks can also be trapped. The method is banned off the coasts of Central and Northern California, but still used in federal waters, offshore banks, and around the Channel Islands. A bill before California lawmakers would end those exemptions.

About 30 fishermen still have active set gillnet permits in Southern California, but the state has stopped issuing new permits. Those who fish the waters say it would threaten their livelihoods, while Birch believes it would help protect critical habitat for vulnerable and recovering animals.

"Each island is so diverse and different from one another - different rocky substates, and different animal and plant life on the physical islands. And then, it's interesting to see how that's correlated below and what sorts of different species and assemblages that we're seeing at each of the islands," Birch continued.

This month, divers have collected samples on Santa Barbara, Anacapa, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa islands. The waters there provide feeding areas and migratory routes for large whales - including endangered humpback whales - nurseries for great white shark pups, breeding and foraging habitat for California sea lions and giant seabass, cold-water corals, and giant kelp forests.