The Appeal., 1911-09-02
aF0hGE .ZRZ7ZzER5

sponge life does not thrive in fresh water
% ~ tue looa OF the sponges practically nothing is
AAdt IL IS taken in through the canal
system and that it must be in a. finely divided
S 70 Practlcally certain. but of what it consists
IS not known. They appear to have but few
natural enemies The so.cal1ed "rootsn -
sponges perform no other purpose than that of
e'hcnorase. Ihe rate of growth of the sponge
under natural, undisturbed conditions Is also q
matter OF uncertainty, but 1t is estimated that
years DID, ' o
The industry in the Americas is most i'm,
portant one. The fisheries as at nreson+ davo1
oped are almost entirely restricted to the Garth.
oean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, with it's con.
tlguous waters AS early as 1922 the inhabitants
" " hey West' Florida, learned, from specimens
thro"n up on the beaches, Of the presence of
several species of useful sponges For some time
they were In limited domestic use among tho in
habitants, but not until 1849 was a cargo sent
to New York. Up to this time the entire spongh
supply or the United States derived from the
Mediterranean, though Of later years q few
sponges come from the Bahamas While sponge
fshing In the Americas is rather a modern in
dustryt it produces more than twoth1rds of the
worlds supply In weight; but the fisheries of the
Mediterranean now produce about one-half of the
worlds supply in value An idea of the number
of sponges produced by the fisheries of the Amer
icas can perhaps best be grasped If it is realized
that last years crop of dry sponges weighed
100000 pounds and each pound is capable
of absorbing IA pints of water, is will be seen
that the total crop of the Americas could absorb
100000 gallons. Nor should the annual valua-
tion of this product be lost sight of. During the
last year there were produced in the Americas
sponges valued at $500, ,0O0 The two places
where sponge fishing is best studied in the Amer
icas are at Tarpon Springs, Florida, and at Bata-
bano, on the southern coast of Cuba
On the Florida coast there are two well-defned
Tho Kav
consisting of chain of keys starting from the
mainland near Miami and extending in the shape
Of horn far into the Gulf of Mexico: and the
Bay grounds on the west, also extending into the
Gulf of Mexico. The Bay grounds, which for.
merly held a secondary position commercially
now yield practically the entire production of
Florida sponges and by far the most prolific
in the Americas. The Atlantic side of these re-
gions is not adapted to the propagation of this
animal because of the depth and low tempera-
ture of the waters and the frequent disturbances
of hurricanes These valuable sponge grounds
have been overhshed In and out Of season to
such an extent that congress found 1t necessary
to enact stringent law for the protection and
conservation Of this industry. This law prohibits
divers from working between the 1st of May and
the 1st of october in waters less than 50 feet
deep, and vessels of the revenue cutter service
patrol the Florida waters today to see that this
law Is enforced. While the sponging areas of
Batabano. Cuba. and the Tarpon Springs, Flor
Ida, are hgurat1vely within stones throw of
each other, yet the methods Of gathering In this
Interesting animal at these points are entirely
different
In Florida the old method Of gathering the
sponge was to wade into the shallow waters and
pull up the growth by hand Later the sponge
hook was introduced. This was twotined short
hook attached to pole of moderate length: a
third tine was added to this implement after
while With the Introduction Of the sponge hook
deeper water was explored. The fisherman stand.
ing in his boat closely scanned the bottom OF the
watcr for sponges. tearing them loose with the