Good news for alligator farmers comes from economists at Penn State University in Pennsylvania who have developed a "new tool to aid in making critical economic decisions" to help optimise alligator farm profitability and sustainability. American gators were once endangered but are again abundant in the coastal south-east. Louisiana alligator farmers have an annual turnover of about £9 million and Florida's farmers about £3 million. The research advises how many gator egg clutches should be collected from the wild, at what size and age they should be harvested and and at what size some should be returned to the wild to maintain stocks.