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Letter: New VMRC regulation hurts those without internet

Editor, Gazette-Journal:

On June 22, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission approved a regulation, requiring all commercial crabbers to report their mandatory crab harvest reports online, beginning Jan. 1, 2022.

As a commercial crabber, I am not opposed to online reporting. But like many who live in rural areas, I don’t have internet at home nor do I have a reliable cell signal.

Why didn’t VMRC notify crabbers prior to the proposed regulation change?

According to a VMRC spokesperson, no public notices were sent to crabbers prior to the June meeting because it would be too costly. Notice of the meeting date and agenda appeared online and in the Daily Press, Virginian Pilot and Richmond Times-Dispatch and a newspaper on the Eastern Shore 15 days before the meeting. How would those of us without internet or knowledge of the meeting info in these papers or access to them know about the proposed upcoming regulation changes that affect our livelihood?

I asked VMRC’s head of...

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