836 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



cate the profits. Mr. Buccich calculates the value of 4,500 spoil ges at 900 florins. This sum is, 

 in my opinion, much too high, as the wholesale sponge -dealers in Trieste receive an average price 

 of 8 and a maximum price of 10 florins per kilogram of Dalmatian sponges. Sponges fetching the 

 price given by Mr. Buccich ought : to have a very considerable size, and their slow growth justifies 

 the supposition that even after seven years they will not yet have reached that size. It must also 

 be taken into account that the market value of sponges which have been raised on pegs is one- 

 third less than that of naturally-grown ones on account of the hole in the center. The profitable- 

 ness of sponge-culture would be far more evident if there was not such a long interval between 

 planting and harvesting; in other words, if the sponges would grow more rapidly. This was cer- 

 tainly looked for when the enterprise was started, but it is dispiriting to have to wait for your 

 crop for seven long years. And in order that when that period has been reached there may be 

 crops every year, it will be necessary to invest the same annual amount of capital for a period of 

 seven years. The apparatus, moreover, is not so simple that every fisherman could easily construct 

 it himself, for experience has shown that wood, which would be the easiest material for working, 

 cannot be used on account of the ravages of the Teredo. As far as our present knowledge goes, it 

 is certain that sponge-culture will not be profitable for poor men, but that it can only be carried 

 on successfully on a very large scale, either by wealthy individuals or by joint stock companies. 

 It would be very encouraging to know more concerning the progressive development of the sponge 

 in its natural condition, and especially to know that this development was just as slow as that of 

 the cuttings. Prof. O. Schmidt inclined to this opinion. But if it should prove erroneous, it would 

 be more thau questionable whether it is profitable to cut to pieces a sponge which uncut would 

 have quicker reached the same size and weight than all the cuttings together in seven .years. 

 Under such circumstances sponge-culture had better be confined to the transformation of flat and 

 therefore worthless sponges into round ones, which, though small, would find a ready market. 

 Possibly several especially misshaped pieces of sponge might b< made to grow together and form 

 larger and better shaped ones. The experiments made by Cavoliui and those of Mr. Buccich above 

 mentioned show that there is no difficulty in doing this.'' 



(c) THE BAHAMA SPONGE FISHERY. 

 7. THE METHODS OF THE FISHERY. 



The Bahama sponge fishery is carried on in very much the same manner as the Florida, the 

 sponges being procured by means of hooks attached to long poles. Negroes perform most of the 

 work, and according to all accounts, the Bahama vessels and their outfit are inferior to those 

 of Key West. The following brief notes made by Dr. Edward Palmer during a recent trip to the 

 Bahamas were furnished by Prof. Alpheus Hyatt, of Boston, and will be found of interest in con- 

 nection with the foregoing account of the Florida fishery : 



Five hundred or more licensed crafts, of 10 to 25 tons burden each, are engaged in the Bahama 

 sponge fishery. These boats are mostly schooner-rigged, and carry from two to four yawls a 

 piece, each of which is manned by two persons, one as sculler, the other as hooker. The sponge- 

 glasses are square or round, and the sponge-hooks two pronged. The crawls in which the sponges 

 are macerated are in from C to 10 feet of water and are constructed by driving stakes into the 

 sand. The sponges are left in them about a week. At the beginning of the, season the owners 

 select the captains and crews and furnish the outfit, but at the close of each trip they take from 



