By RUSTY DENNEN
Picture this: A waterman pulling his gill nets in the lower Potomac River gets a beep on his cell phone.
It's a text message from Virginia Del. Albert Pollard about a change in fishing regulations that might be helpful.
In a notoriously low-tech industry, where many fishermen rely on vintage equipment and shun modern conveniences, will texting be a new wave of communication on the water?
Though the jury is still out with fishermen, Pollard thinks it will. Pollard, the 99th District Democrat who lives in Lancaster County on the Northern Neck, recently unveiled a new service allowing commercial fishermen to receive text-message alerts on changes to fishing regulations and public comment periods from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
"Technology has changed, and with it my office needs to change the way we relay information," Pollard said in a press release. While VMRC does a good job posting information on its Web site, he said, "Watermen are not sitting in front of their computer. And when regulators and the regulated aren't communicating, it means more work for everybody."
Pollard, who has championed Chesapeake Bay issues, noted that not every waterman has e-mail, "but every fisherman has a cell phone and, as kids have taught us, texting can actually be a practical means of communication."
Ken Smith, president of the Virginia Watermen's Association in the Northumberland County community of Heathsville, is not so sure.
"You know, that's fine," said Smith. "Doggone now, how do you text message? Hell, I don't know how. It sounds good, but I don't know many people who know how to do it."
Most watermen, he says, have cell phones and radios on their boats to keep in touch with each other and home.
"You call somebody on the cell phone and the news gets all over the place."
Smith said politicians need to get the word out--but not about fishing regulations.
"If you really want to do something, send a text message out to all the polluters" who he says have made it much harder for watermen to make a living on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
"Really send those messages out."
Doug Jenkins, a Westmoreland waterman and president of the Twin Rivers Watermen's Group, said it would depend upon the waterman.
"I'm sure the younger ones would use it. The older ones--like myself--wouldn't." He said his son, Curtis, who works on the water, often checks his cell phone for messages when he's out fishing.
Kirby A. Carpenter, executive secretary of the Potomac River Fisheries Commission, said it could be useful.
"My immediate thought is that just about any way you can get information out to constituents is probably a good idea."
Pollard says the free service would offer a condensed version of a regulatory change or public notice and not the full content of a rule change. Fishermen can sign up for Watermen Updates on his Web site: albertpollard .org.
Pollard's 99th District includes the counties of Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, Westmoreland, King George and a portion of Caroline. His staff will monitor the VMRC and PRFC Web sites weekly for information to text.
Pollard cited an example from VMRC's April meeting when hand-tong harvesting (for oysters) was extended in the James River Seed Area. The text would read: "James River seed area hand tonging extended through June 30, 2009."
Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com