Alligators also provide aesthetic, educational, recreational, and economic benefits to humans.
The Florida alligator population varied considerably during the 1900's in response to fluctuating hunting pressure caused by unstable markets for luxury leather products. The declining abundance of alligators during the late 1950's and early 1960's led to the 1967 classification of the Florida alligator population as endangered throughout its range. Federal and international regulations imposed during the 1970's and 1980's helped control trade of alligator hides, and illegal hunting of alligators was checked. Because survey areas were not a random sample of all alligator habitat in Florida, trend results are applicable only to deepwater habitats and navigable wetlands. The number of areas surveyed in any year ranged from 7 in 1974 to 43 in 1980.