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Since its inception in 1939 when it was housed in the American Museum of Natural History, IGFA has taken an active, global role in fisheries research, management and conservation.
Excerpts by vice president, Phillip Wylie from the 1945 IGFA ORGANIZATION and RULES manual typify this:
 The anglers and scientists who first envisaged this organization had, however, broader purposes in view
than the mere maintenance
of world record information.
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“Again, the sportsman who brings intelligence as well as a mere instinct to his endeavors universally becomes the conservationist – and the conservation of fishes is of equal importance to the scientist, the angler, the commercial fisherman, and the general public. Fish, like the waters of the sea themselves, are the common property of all the people of the earth”
Early contributions to game fish research by IGFA included the construction of a state-of-the-art marine laboratory by IGFA founder, Michael Lerner. And by 1952, IGFA had formal relationships with 13 Scientific Institutions as members including:
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Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia: Pennsylvania
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American Museum of Natural History: New York, New York
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Asociacion Nacional de Piscicultura y Pesca de Columbia; Bogotá, Columbia
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Bermuda government Aquarium and Museum; Bermuda
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Bingham Oceanographic Laboratory; Yale University, Connecticut
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British Museum (Natural History); London, England
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Bureau of Marine Fishes, California Division of Fish and Game; California
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California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco; California
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Chicago Museum of Natural History; Chicago, Illinois
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Istituto Talassografico di Messina; Messina, Sicily
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Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle; Paris, France
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Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
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United States Fish and Wildlife Service; Washington D.C.
IGFA was one of the first organizations to encourage and facilitate information exchange between anglers and scientists. Dr. William King Gregory, Curator of Fishes at the American Museum of Natural History and IGFA founding President had this to say on the subject in 1943:
“The motto of the IGFA, ‘For Ethical Sport and Productive Science’ may well raise the question--- what is productive science? Ichthyology, the science of fishes, does not limit itself to the task of identifying, naming, cataloguing and preserving samples of the thousands of species in the teeming world of fishes, however gigantic and thrilling that task may be. Nor would this science be complete even if all the desired data relating to food habits, time and space of breeding, migrations, etc., of all living species had been gathered and classified, card-catalogued, and micro-photographed and filed away in bomb-proof vaults. For all this is only the material for productive science. Ichthyology can only become productive when its material is being studied and analyzed in the quest for better and better answers to the enlarging problems of science as a whole. The anglers themselves, to whom we owe a great deal of important data, are a powerful aid in keeping the science of ichthyology from becoming a dead mass of statistics.”
Much has changed in the world of fishing and science since the early days of IGFA. Still, there is the need for more and better data to properly assess fish stocks. Information on game fish biology and ecology needs to transcend the walls of academia and be made available to anglers. Recreational anglers and fisheries managers must learn to communicate more effectively and share information to develop effective management strategies. As it has for over 70 years, IGFA will continue to assist anglers, scientists and managers to help ensure that the game fish we cherish not only survive but proliferate for the enjoyment of future generations.
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