The purpose of these rule amendments is to modify the Commission’s Blue Crab Rule in order to establish closed seasons to the harvest of blue crabs from traps. The purpose of creating Rule 68B-45.0045, F.A.C., is to facilitate the identification and retrieval of lost and abandoned blue crab traps. This has been identified as an issue of importance by both the fishing industry and the public. The proposed draft rule amendment would create five regional closures along Florida’s coast and one closure in waters of the St. Johns River system. Each closure would last up to ten days and would occur annually. The duration of the closures within the ten days specified in the rule would be based on conditions in the specific regions and would be at the discretion of the Executive Director of the Commission. The purpose of modifying Rule 68B-45.006, F.A.C., is to transfer the current Gulf of Mexico Regional Closure into the new section, Rule 68B-45.0045, F.A.C., so that all blue crab season closures are in the same section of the rule.