We might get a handful more anglers at Commission meetings on a Saturday, but I doubt it would be many more than you see at weekday meetings. For every guy/gal currently, actively involved, there are at least two more who are no longer actively involved, because they've been completely demoralized by how fruitless their efforts were. For every two of those, there are about 50 more who simply aren't ever going to get involved in advocacy work. I don't care what sort of advocacy work you choose; 10% of the people do 90% of the work.


Another 90/10 comparison that really hurts our cause is that only about 10% of the public ever goes fishing (might be less than that among younger generations), while a vast majority buys occasional fish commercially. Some of this majority would be sympathetic to our cause if they were educated about the plight of Pacific salmon (and the lowly angler), but most folks don't have a clue (or much of a care, really).

Simply put, public perception is generally not sympathetic to sport fishing interests. They don't fish, and they don't care, so long as they can pay exhorbitant prices for fish at the store once in a while. This is why our pleas and threats fall on deaf ears. We are the minority, and if you look at it that way, the system is working precisely as designed.