the problem is, we will never know what kind of effect these meetings truly can have unless we actually had the room jam packed and vocal, and in the DFO rep's face....the halibut meeting was impressive for numbers, but no DFO there. You really think DFO shakes in their boots when 50 people in a region representing 350000 people show up? Now I realize many people may be away or not in a situation to attend (I was actually one of them and I told Chris the reason and some of the guys here know and understand), but I have been to every other one since I knew about it. 1 problem is commitment and the, 'let someone else deal with it' attitude, the other is advertising. There is typically not enough notice, and when the notice DOES come out, its only on a email list and a few forums....it needs to be up in the supply shops, boat launches, ads in the paper, even places like usedvictoria that gets lots of traffic.
We will NEVER know how much influence we 'could' have until we actually pack those rooms with 400 people and get in their faces. Unfortunately though, 1 of 82 regular season canucks games is more important to most.
So be it...like has been said though, don't b*tch when we can't fish.