Scuba divers encounter a silky shark off the coast of Florida. Image: NOAA

Iconic ocean predators like sharks and sea otters have been pushed to the brink of extinction by humans. Fortunately, conservation efforts over the past few decades have slowed—and in some cases, reversed—this trend in some areas. This is encouraging, but it also raises a new question: Are humans ready to share oceans teeming with predators again?

Ana Sofia Guerra, a PhD student in ecology at UC Santa Barbara, explored this issue in a study published this month in Marine Policy. Titled “Wolves of the Sea,” the paper looks to the history of predator management and anticipates new conflicts that could arise between humans and rebounding populations of ocean predators.