Starting Monday, Alabama will be closing its “inside” waters through June 1, the Marine Resources Division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources announced.

The temporary closure is to allow commercial and recreational shrimp harvesting without outside interference.

Inside waters are defined as all waters north of a line from the Florida-Alabama line westward along the shore to Alabama Point. From there, travel long the Baldwin County beaches to Mobile Point, then across the mouth of Mobile Bay to Dauphin Island and along the beaches to the west point of Dauphin Island and then following the territorial sea line to the Alabama-Mississippi state line.

Licensed live bait dealers are prohibited from taking live bait north of a line beginning at the northern shore of East Fowl River running along the northern edge of the Fowl River Channel to marker number two in the Fowl River Channel then southeasterly to Middle Bay Light and then northeasterly to Great Point Clear is prohibited during this closure except by permit holders in the Special Permit Area in the Mobile Ship Channel.

Recreational shrimp vessels that have a Special Live Bait Permit can only take one gallon of shrimp per boat each day.

There are from 15 to 22 species of shrimp in the Yellowhammer State’s waters. Of this group, only three are harvested – brown shrimp, white shrimp, and pink shrimp.

Alabamians harvest approximately 20.5 million pounds of shrimp with an estimated dockside value of $45 million.

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.