The purpose of this rule amendment is to modify the Commission’s Florida East Coast Shrimp Bed regulations, 68B-31.0156, Florida Administrative Code (FAC). The proposed amendment would modify the boundaries of the area off northeast Florida that is open to the commercial harvest of food shrimp during April and May. The state waters on the Atlantic coast generally extend three nautical miles from the coast. However, in the case of the St. Johns River mouth, the state waters boundary extends three nautical miles from the offshore jetties that stabilize the entrance to the river. This creates a seaward curve in the state waters boundary in the region. The curvature of this line is referred to by shrimpers in the region as the “bubble.” In 1995, the Marine Fisheries Commission created an exception to the April-May shrimping closure for a portion of the “bubble” at the industry’s request. Shrimp in this area were believed to be large enough to be marketable, as were those in adjacent federal waters, and it was easier for the shrimp fleet to operate if they could trawl through the “bubble” when fishing in federal waters instead of having to pick up their nets or trawl around it. The shrimp industry has requested they be allowed to shrimp throughout the entire “bubble” during the two-month closure so that they can trawl continuously across the entire area. This change would require moving the western boundary of the area open to fishing between 0.5 – 1 mile to the west. Thereby creating a straight line that cuts directly across the base of the “bubble” and approximates a straight line three nautical miles off the mouth of the St. Johns River.