2023 IGFA Fish Art Conservation Award

In 2021, the IGFA partnered with Wildlife Forever on their highly popular and globally successful Fish Art Contest, celebrating their 25^th anniversary, to help introduce more children to sport fishing and the importance of conservation. Through the IGFA’s sponsorship of the program, we were able to modify the IGFA Conservation Award from billfish to roosterfish for this year’s “themed species” to bring more attention and focus to the IGFA’s Roosterfish Research Program, a relatively new research effort to learn more about the connectivity of populations from different countries and how this popular game fish could be managed. Learn more about our Roosterfish Research Program here: https://igfa.org/roosterfish-research-program/

The IGFA Award was created in partnership with Wildlife Forever’s Fish Art Contest to promote youth education through fish, fishing, and aquatic conservation and with the focus on roosterfish research, students were able to learn more about a species that scientists are still learning about. What is even more exciting, the Fish Art Contest has NEVER received any submissions on roosterfish before in its 25 years’ of existence, so the IGFA was proud to bring a new species into their collection.

Submissions received were spectacular! In total, there were 4,566 entries from 44 countries and 44 US-states. What was once a US-only “State Fish Art” contest has turned into a global effort to get kids connected to the outdoors through science, fishing, art, and creative writing.

The IGFA would like to congratulate the winner of this year’s IGFA Conservation Award, Yanjun Mao, a 9^th grade student from China! Yanjun will receive a prize package from the IGFA including items featuring our roosterfish logo.

To view all category winners, visit: https://www.wildlifeforever.org/home/fish-art/2023-winners/.