The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1911-09-07


Sponge life does not thrive in fresh water.
Or the food of the sponges practically nothing is
known. That it is taken in through the canal
system and that 1t must be in finely divided
state is practically certain but of what it consists
is not known. They appear to have but few
natural enemies. The so-caed roots" of
sponges perform no other purpose than that of
anchorage. The rate of growth of the sponge
under natural, undisturbed conditions is also
matter of uncertainty, but 1t is estimated that
the average 6inch sponge Is probably only four
years old.
The industry in the Americas is a most i'm
portant one. The fisheries as at present deyel
oped almost entirely restricted to the Carib
bean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico with it's con-
tiguous waters. AS early as 1922 the inhabitants
of Key West, Florida, learned, from specimens
thrown up on the beaches, of the presence of
several species of useful sponges. For some time
they were in limited domestic use among the In
habitants, but not until 1849 was cargo sent
to New York. Up to this time the entire sponge
supply of the United States was derived from the
Mediterranean, though of later years a few
sponges come from the Bahamas While sponge
fishing in the Americas Is rather modern in
dustry it produces more than two-thirds 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 1t is realized
that last years crop OF dry SpOHS0S WelSHeu
100000 pounds; and each pound Is capable
of absorbing IA pnts of water is will be seen
that the total crop of the Americas could absorb
100000 gallons. Nor. should the annual valua-
ton Of this product be lost sight OF. During the
last year there were produced in the Americas
sponges valued at $1,500,000. 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-dehned
sponge regions. The Key grounds on the east,
consisting of a chain of keys starting from the
mainland near Miami and extending in the shape
of a 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 are 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 overfished in and out OF season 70
such an extent that congress found 1t necessary
to enact q stringent law for the protection and
conservation Of this industry This law prohibits
divers from working between the LIST OF May and
the 1st of October In waters less than 80 feet
deem 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 nguratively within stones throw OF
each other, yet the methods OF gathering II this
interesting animal at these points are entirely
different.
m 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 q pole Of moderate length;
third tine was added to this implement after
while with the introduction OF the sponge hook
deeper water was explored. The fisherman stand
ing ii his boat closely scanned the bottom Of the
water for sponges. tearing them loose with the