A total of 8 chitinolytic bacteria were isolated fr om 18 marine samples collected from different beach es of Tamil Nadu, India. Among them, a strain designated as Bac illus amyloliquefaciens SM3 which was produced high est chitinolytic activity in primary and secondary scre ening in colloidal chitin agar. The optimization of colloidal chitin in fermentation medium, temperature, pH, incubation period for the production of chitinase enzyme by t his strain was done. A high level of chitinase activity was ob served in the nutrient broth with 0.5% colloidal ch itin at pH 7.5 and at 35°C after 3 days of incubation. Under optim ized conditions, the chitinase produced with was 33 .5 Uml -1 which was enhanced three folds than unoptimized con ditions.