Shrimp season is open along the Alabama coast, but some waters remain off limits because the cool, wet spring made shrimp grow slower than normal.
Officials said Wednesday that additional areas would be opened to boats once studies show that shrimp have reached maturity.
More than a dozen boats pulled nets Wednesday in the waters off Dauphin Island and in lower Mobile Bay. Brown shrimp season opened Tuesday in some areas that had been closed.
Chris Blankenship of Alabama Marine Resources says additional shrimping areas will open later.
Boats catch more than 25 million pounds of shrimp annually in Alabama, making it the state's top seafood crop.