A letter of clarification from the authors of “trophy fishing for species threatened with extinction”

A rejoinder to our recent paper suggests that there has been confusion over our central point. The 85 IUCN Red List Threatened species that the International Game Fish Association issues world records became threatened due to commercial overfishing, not recreational. However, given that they are threatened now, we have concerns about trophy fishing for them, at least in the current form that precludes catch and release. Additionally, while the IGFA claims that an insignificantly low number of record applications for these species have been submitted, many more anglers attempt to catch a large fish than end up submitting record applications. We are grateful for the opportunity to discuss this important issue.