Data From: An ecological assessment of large coastal shark communities in South Florida.

This dataset is associated to the article “An ecological assessment of large coastal shark communities in South Florida” by Tinari and Hammerschlag (2021), published in Ocean and Coastal Management, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2021.105772. Specifically, these are the data used to create figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 and tables 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. These data are the results of standardized drumline surveys from Miami through the middle Florida Keys to examine spatial, seasonal, and environmental patterns in shark occurrence, catch per unit effort, composition, and demographic structure. Between 2009 and 2021, a total of 21,755 drumlines were deployed, capturing 3,398 sharks, comprising fifteen species. Ginglymostoma cirratum, (n=1335), Carcharhinus limbatus, (n=650), Negaprion brevirostris, (n=314), C. leucas, (n=253), and Sphyrna mokarran, (n=238) were the most common species encountered. At the assemblage level, relative abundance among regions and seasons were generally similar; however clear species-specific patterns of abundance, size structure, and sex-composition were detected by season, region, habitat, and management zones. These data serve as a baseline for future monitoring of shark populations in South Florida and assessing their response to environmental change. Mark recapture sharks were also analyzed to provide insights into the distances traveled and time at liberty.