About

Jeffrey Buckel is a professor in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University. His research is concentrated in understanding the population dynamics of fishery resources, with investigations focusing on the processes underlying recruitment variability in marine and estuarine fishes. Specifically, he examines the influence of abiotic factors and biotic interactions on the growth and mortality of juvenile fishes. His laboratory conducts applied research that directly addresses the assessment and management of local and regional fisheries. Buckel's work includes projects on the movement and mortality of spotted seatrout in North Carolina using a combined conventional tag and telemetry approach, as well as studies on fish productivity metrics in relation to anthropogenic alteration. He has also contributed to estimating discard mortality rates of black sea bass affected by pressure trauma, and to understanding diet composition and ecosystem modeling of predatory fishes in North Carolina. His research involves collaborations with various agencies, including the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries and the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and he has published extensively on topics related to marine fish populations and fisheries management.

Research topics

• Fishery
• Biology
• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Environmental science
• Statistics
• Oceanography
• Telecommunications
• Mathematics
• Geology
• Zoology

Selected publications

• Identifying spawning aggregations and estimating batch fecundity of sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus) off North Carolina, USA

  Fisheries Research · 2026-02-16

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Evolution of red snapper ( <i>Lutjanus campechanus</i> ) science and management in the United States Atlantic Ocean

  ICES Journal of Marine Science · 2026-04-01

  articleOpen access

  Abstract In the United States Atlantic snapper-grouper fishery, no single species has garnered more attention than red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus). The earliest assessments of this stock (i.e. 1998, 2009, 2010) showed a population that was being overexploited (biomass severely depleted) and undergoing overfishing (fishing mortality rate too high). Since then, scientific understanding of the stock and fishery has advanced, and more recent assessments have shown substantial progress towards recovery. In this Story from the Front Lines, we document some broad lessons learned during this period of recovery, including the criticality of fishery-independent surveys for understanding population dynamics, the benefits of stakeholder involvement, the challenges of regulating a multispecies fishery, and the utility of economic considerations in fishery management. Throughout, we describe specific research studies that have benefited the scientific enterprise, culminating in a large-scale undertaking referred to as the South Atlantic Red Snapper Research Program that is estimating red snapper absolute abundance. The lessons learned during the evolution of science and management for red snapper have broad implications, documented here in the hope of benefitting other fisheries around the globe.

  PublisherDOI

• Omnidirectional sonar increases catch efficiency in a pelagic sportfishing tournament

  ICES Journal of Marine Science · 2026-04-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Technological advances in fisheries often lead to increased catch efficiency, which has the potential to cause overexploitation. One popular and emerging technology in pelagic sportfishing is omnidirectional sonar, which can be used to identify and target individual fish. We analyzed catch data from two consecutive years of a sportfishing tournament in North Carolina, USA to investigate differences in catch success between vessels with omnidirectional sonar and those without it. In this tournament, vessels target six pelagic species, including three Istiophorid billfishes, dolphinfish Coryphaena hippurus, wahoo Acanthocybium solandri, and yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares. A Bayesian generalized linear model of combined-billfish-species catch rates revealed that vessels with sonar caught 84% (95% credible interval: 42%–136%) more fish than vessels without sonar, when accounting for vessel-specific variation and interannual differences. A Fisher’s exact test revealed that the numerical catch of prize-winning (by weight) non-billfish species differed by sonar presence, with sonar-equipped vessels winning more than the expected number of prizes. The finding that boats with omnidirectional sonar have higher catch rates for these pelagic species has implications for fishery managers aiming to ensure the sustainability of pelagic stocks in the face of emerging technologies.

  PublisherDOI

• Recreational angler perceptions of the proper anatomical region to vent barotraumatized reef fish in the U.S. South Atlantic

  North American Journal of Fisheries Management · 2025-05-16 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  ABSTRACT Objective Approaches to reduce discard mortality in fisheries that target physoclistous reef fishes in deep water are a priority. Venting is one approach, but we lack information on whether stakeholders know of this approach and, if so, whether they know how to use these tools properly. Our goal was to understand current recreational angler familiarity with the venting technique and their knowledge of proper versus improper anatomical regions for venting. Methods During 2023–2025, we conducted a survey of marine recreational anglers fishing aboard a North Carolina-based headboat targeting physoclistous reef fish from seafloor habitats in depths of about 25–50 m. Anglers were provided with lateral and ventral sketches of a popular Atlantic reef species (Red Snapper Lutjanus campechanus) experiencing barotrauma and were surveyed for their experience with venting. Respondents who had previously heard of venting were asked to mark a single location where they believed a fish should be vented, regardless of whether they had ever vented a fish before. Results Among all respondents, 59% had not heard of venting. Of anglers who had heard of venting (but inclusive of those who had applied venting and those who had not), 60% chose the proper region (laterally and immediately behind the pectoral fin) or likely proper region (abdomen). In contrast, improper venting regions, which included the everted stomach, dorsal musculature, and anus, were selected by 40% of respondents. Conclusions We concluded that there is a widespread lack of knowledge among marine recreational anglers about how to properly vent fish.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Discard mortality rates of Red Snapper after barotrauma and hook trauma: Insights from using acoustic telemetry in the U.S. South Atlantic

  North American Journal of Fisheries Management · 2025-04-01 · 8 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  ABSTRACT Objective We studied discard mortality of Red Snapper Lutjanus campechanus, a reef species that experiences barotrauma and hook trauma in its U.S. hook-and-line fisheries. Annual numbers of discarded Red Snapper far exceed those harvested in federal fisheries management regions, a phenomenon that emphasizes the importance of quantifying discard fates. Methods To estimate discard mortality, three-dimensional movement data were collected using acoustic telemetry tags and a 3-km2 array of receivers deployed in 2019 and 2023 at a natural reef area (38 m deep) off North Carolina. Release treatments were jaw-hooked or deep-hooked fish; all fish were returned to depth with a recompression device. We assigned a fate for each released Red Snapper based on movement profiles revealed by the acoustic detection data; fates included discard mortality, lost tag, emigrated/harvested, or alive within the array when the receivers were retrieved. A Kaplan–Meier survivorship analysis was used to estimate the rates of discard survival for each release treatment. Results Mean proportional rates of discard mortality (1 − survival) were 0.063 (95% CI = 0.001–0.122) for jaw-hooked recompressed fish and 0.875 (0.543–0.966) for deep-hooked recompressed fish. Conclusions Our study provides estimates of discard mortality for Red Snapper at a depth where the species is often captured in U.S. South Atlantic commercial and recreational fisheries. Our estimate of discard mortality for deep-hooked Red Snapper is among the highest published rates for fish in this release condition and demonstrates that deeply hooked Red Snapper will likely die.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Short-term variability but long-term consistency in diets of dolphinfish Coryphaena hippurus in the western North Atlantic

  Marine Ecology Progress Series · 2025-10-02

  articleSenior author

  Temporal variation in fish predator diets can indicate changes in community trophic structure. Opportunistically feeding predators can serve as samplers through which foraging ecology or changes in relative abundances of prey can be studied. We sampled a sportfishing tournament in the western North Atlantic (WNA) over 23 yr (2003-2025) to identify trends in diets of dolphinfish Coryphaena hippurus , an opportunistic pelagic predator. Analyses focused on prey that substantially contributed to diets by percent frequency of occurrence or percent weight: scombrids, exocoetids, cannibalized conspecifics, a multi-taxa group of prey associated with pelagic Sargassum algae, and ingested Sargassum . Analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) and non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (NMDS) were conducted to determine any interannual differences in diet communities. Binomially distributed generalized additive models (GAMs) were fitted to prey presence/absence data for the 5 aforementioned prey types and gamma-distributed GAMs fitted to positive (non-zero) prey weight data for the 4 animal prey types. GAM fitting was used to determine whether dietary patterns were related to year or predator length. ANOSIM and NMDS found interannual variability of prey communities but without a consistent trend through time. GAMs fitted to presence/absence data showed no long-term trends. These models also showed declining scombrid and exocoetid prey presence but increasing cannibalized prey presence at larger predator lengths. GAMs fitted to weight data showed no long-term trends but decreasing and increasing trends in weight of scombrid and cannibalized prey with predator length, respectively. Results indicate stable dolphinfish diets and thus likely stable abundances of its important prey in the WNA.

  PublisherDOI

• Home ranges of economically important reef fishes at North Carolina artificial reefs

  Animal Biotelemetry · 2025-12-31

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Home range is a vital component to understanding animal ecology and can vary with factors like species, body size, and habitat. Artificial reefs are increasingly used to supplement or enhance habitat for reef fish. Quantifying reef fish home range sizes and the factors affecting home ranges is thus critical to understanding the efficacy of artificial reefs to sustain communities that reflect those on natural reefs. We estimated home ranges of reef fishes at artificial reefs in the southeast United States, evaluated what factors affected those home ranges, and compared them to home ranges of similarly sized fish on natural reefs. From June–October 2021 and 2022, we deployed acoustic tags on five fishery targeted reef species, black sea bass (Centropristis striata), gag (Mycteroperca microlepis), greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili), almaco jack (S. rivoliana), and red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus), on four artificial reefs near Cape Lookout, North Carolina. Tagged fish were tracked using a fine-scale positioning system for ~ 120 days. Home ranges varied by species and fish size (i.e., total length). Black sea bass had the smallest home ranges (mean = 6266 m2), gag and red snapper had moderate home ranges (38,265 m2 and 53,553 m2, respectively), and almaco jack and greater amberjack had the largest (152,146 m2, and 414,107 m2, respectively). Black sea bass, gag, and red snapper displayed increased home range size with total length while greater amberjack and almaco jack home ranges remained relatively constant across lengths. Greater amberjack home ranges were further influenced by artificial reef complex area with an increase in reef area leading to a larger home range. Our data from artificial reefs showed considerable overlap in the relationship between home range and body size when compared to similarly sized predatory reef fish on natural reefs. This information will be vital in improving ecological understanding of how artificial reefs can influence area use of reef-associated species to help inform future artificial reef deployments. Moreover, these results provide an important comparison between artificial reefs and natural reefs as habitats for reef-associated species, a topic that will become increasingly important as the quantity of artificial structures in our oceans increases.

  PublisherDOI

• Seasonality and relative abundance within an elasmobranch assemblage near a major biogeographic divide

  PLoS ONE · 2024-06-26 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Nearshore waters are utilized by elasmobranchs in various ways, including foraging, reproduction, and migration. Multiple elasmobranch species have been previously documented in the nearshore waters of North Carolina, USA, which has a biogeographic break at Cape Hatteras on the Atlantic coast. However, comprehensive understanding of the elasmobranch community in this region is still lacking. Monthly year-round trawling conducted along two ocean transects (near Cape Lookout and Masonboro Inlet in 5 to 18 m depth) in Onslow Bay, North Carolina provided the opportunity to examine the dynamics and seasonal patterns of this community using a multivariate approach, including permutational multivariate analysis of variance and nonparametric BIO-ENV analysis. From November 2004 to April 2008, 21,149 elasmobranchs comprised of 20 species were caught, dominated by spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) and clearnose skate (Rostroraja eglanteria). All species exhibited seasonal variation in abundance, but several key species contributed the most to seasonal differences in species composition within each transect. Spiny dogfish was most abundant in the winter at both locations, comprised mainly of mature females. Although clearnose skate was caught in all seasons, the species was most abundant during the spring and fall. Atlantic sharpnose (Rhizoprionodon terraenovae) was one of the most abundant species in the summer, and two distinct size cohorts were documented. Temperature appeared to be the main abiotic factor driving the community assemblage. The extensive year-round sampling provided the ability to better understand the dramatic seasonal variation in species composition and provides new information on the relative abundance of several understudied elasmobranch species that may be of significant ecological importance. Our results underscore the importance of inner continental shelf waters as important elasmobranch habitat and provide baseline data to examine for future shifts in timing and community structure at the northern portion of the biogeographic break at Cape Hatteras.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Applying mark-resight, count, and telemetry data to estimate effective sampling area and fish density with stationary underwater cameras

  Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences · 2024-08-30 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Accurate estimates of abundance and density for geographically open populations must account for the effective sampling area (ESA) of sampling gears. We describe a Marked N-Mixture model to estimate ESA and density (number of individuals/unit area) from repeated counts of unmarked and marked individuals, integrating mark-resight, camera counts, and telemetry data of red snapper ( Lutjanus campechanus) at a 1.6 km 2 reef off North Carolina, USA. Cameras recorded observations of unmarked and marked individuals, whereas telemetry data indicated the number of tagged fish present on the reef. We estimated density (95 individuals/km 2 , 95%CI: 58–149), ESA (which was lower when current direction was towards the camera), detection probability (0.06, 95%CI: 0.03–0.09), and covariate relationships. Simulation studies under different scenarios of data quality and space use identified positive bias in density estimates from N-mixture models due to fish movement. In contrast, the Marked N-Mixture model returned unbiased estimates of density, ESA, and detection parameters, and appears to be a more robust method for modeling density given the data available for this analysis. This approach can be applied to other populations where count and telemetry data overlap in space and time.

  PublisherDOI

• Long-term dynamics of larval and early juvenile spot (Leiostomus xanthurus) off the U.S. East Coast: relating ocean origins, estuarine ingress, and changing environmental conditions

  Fishery Bulletin · 2024-08-20 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Ichthyoplankton data sets based on collections from estuaries in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and New Jersey and from ocean cruises off the U.S. East Coast were examined to determine spawning locations in the ocean, cross-shelf distributions of larvae, and movements of spot (Leiostomus xanthurus) into estuaries.Spot spawn during fall and winter near the edge of the continental shelf, primarily south of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.We documented additional spawning of spot north of Cape Hatteras, close to the coast, in summer and fall.Larval and early juvenile spot enter estuaries from November through May in South Carolina and North Carolina and from January through June in Virginia, Delaware, and New Jersey.Numbers of spot per volume of water sampled decreased from south to north among estuaries and in the ocean.Interannual variations in abundance were high, and no long-term trends were determined.Over the decades, median annual lengths of ingressing larval and juvenile spot decreased as annual mean water temperature increased in South Carolina and North Carolina.The timing of ingress was positively correlated with water temperature.Continued increases in water temperature on the East Coast will likely lead to additional changes in oceanic distribution and ingress patterns of spot.Our findings indicate the value of synthesizing information from long-term studies conducted across broad geographic scales.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Paul J. Rudershausen

  North Carolina State University

  63 shared

• Nathan M. Bacheler

  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

  49 shared

• Brendan J. Runde

  The Nature Conservancy

  35 shared

• Kyle W. Shertzer

  31 shared

• Joseph E. Hightower

  North Carolina State University

  30 shared

• J. Christopher Taylor

  University of Leeds

  29 shared

• Francis Juanes

  University of Victoria

  21 shared

• Frederick S. Scharf

  University of North Carolina Wilmington

  19 shared

Labs

• Jeffrey BuckelPI

Education

• Ph.D., Ecology

  North Carolina State University

  2003

• M.S., Ecology

  North Carolina State University

  1998

• B.S., Environmental Science

  University of California, Davis

  1996