Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1911-09-01

apohse me does not thrive in fresh water
" Tue 1000 OF the sponges practically nothing Is
AnoWh. Inat 1t is taken in through the canal
s.sen anu .nat It must be in finely divided
a'e = pracucaily certain but of what il consists
IS not known. They appear ~ have hnt sa,r
aiaeuIA enemies. The so-calIed "rootsn of
sponses perform no other purpose than that of
anchorage The rate OF growth of the sponge
unuer natural undisturbed conditions Is also
matter OF uncertainty. but 1t is estimated that
tne average 6-inch sponge is probably only four
years old 49, W
Inc industry in the Americas is n most i'm
poitane one. Ihe fisheries at present deyel
oped are almost entirely restricted To the Carb
ueah sea and the Gulf of Mexico, with its CON
uguous waters AS early as 1922 the inbabitonts
or Key West, Florida learned from snac,p,ans
thrown up on the beaches, of the presence of
several species of useful sponges For Soma time
they were In limited domestic use among the IN
haoitahts put not until 1S49 was a cargo sent
70 New York. Up to this time the entire sponge
supply OF the United States was derived from the
mediterranean, though of later wears a feu
sponges come from the Bahamas While sponpe
hshing In the Americas is rather a modern in
uustry' IL produces more than two-thirds of the
worlds supply In weight but the fisheries of tbe
Mediterranean now produce about one.half of the
worlds supply in value. An idea of the number
Oh sponges produced by the fisheries of the Amer
lcas can perhaps best be grasped IL 1t is realized
lhat last years crop of dry sponges weighed
4,oOVooO pounds; and as each pound is capable
OF absorbing IA pints of water is will be seen
that the total crop of the Americas could absorb
GUOOO0O gallons Nor should the annual valua-
ton OF this product be lost sight of During the
last year there 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-
Dano 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 chain of keys starting from the
mainland near Miami and extending in the shape
OF horn far into the Gulf of Mexico: and the
Say grounds on the west, also extending into the
Gulf of Mexico. The Bay grounds which for
merly held q 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 s 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 overfshed In and out of season TO
such an extent that congress found 1t necessary
to enact a stringent law for the protection and
conservation of this industry. This law prohibits
divers from working between the list of May and
the lst of October in waters less than so feet
deep, and vessels of the revenue cutter service
patrol the Florida waters today to see that this
law is enforced While the spongng areas of
Batabano, Cuba, and the Tarpon Springs Flor
Ida, are fguratively within a 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 two-tined short
nook attached to pole of moderate length; a
hire tine was added to this implement after a
While With the introduction of the sponge hook
eeper water was explored. The fisherman stand
ng in his boat closely scanned the bottom OF the
Sater for sponges. tearing them loose with the