Similar protests have flared up recently all along the B.C. coast and on Vancouver Island, many of them directed at local Conservative MPs. As Mike Langegger, a member of the Kitimat Rod and Gun told the meeting: "This is a lifestyle, a tradition, a culture. It's the many friendships, families, bonds that are fostered in our fishing and hunting culture. Today we are standing up for our children and future generations." The 2011 recreational halibut season has just opened, a month late, on March 1. And with it are growing fears that the season will close by mid-summer — meaning in the height of tourist season.