FISHERIES OF THE COASTAL WATERS OF FLORIDA. 15 



Enemies. — I do not know of any, but it is the prevailing opinion here, among sponge 

 fishermen, that during some years poisonous water conies out of the Suwanee River 

 near Cedar Keys, and that this water runs iuto the sponge-grounds near by and then 

 kills the sponges. The fishermen state that some years they have found many sponges 

 floating loose on the surface at the sponge-grounds in the vicinity of Cedar Keys. 

 This opinion may perhaps be correct, but personally I do not share it, because I do 

 not think that even if poisonous water was actually flowing out of the Suwanee 

 River it could reach the sponge-grounds at sea, nearly 50 miles from the mouth of 

 that river, and that the said poisonous water could then sink to a depth of at least 30 

 feet to reach and injure the sponge bottom. 1 am inclined to believe that some sub- 

 marine convulsions, perhaps, are the cause of these uprootings of the sponges which 

 have been found floating loose on the surface of the water at times. 



As one of the causes injurious to the growth and propagation of the sponges, I 

 would mention submarine diving apparatus. This is the greatest enemy to the growth 

 of the sponges, as has been proved by its continual use on the grounds of the Archi- 

 pelago Islands in Europe and on the east coast of Africa, in both of which places the 

 submarine diving has left the grounds almost entirely bare. The iron shoes of the 

 divers walking on the sponge beds in the bottom are said to have killed the sponges. 

 Up to a few years ago the sponge gathering in the Archipelago Islands in Europe had 

 been performed by the means of iron hooks attached to long poles, in the same method 

 as it is used in Florida at present, and also by means of naked divers. Some few 

 years back, however, someone has introduced the use of the submarine diving appa- 

 ratus for sponge gathering in the Archipelago Islands. 



Soon after the extensive sponge-grounds on the east coast of Africa were discov- 

 ered, and the submarine diving apparatus' was put to use there at a lively rate by 

 the Greek sponge fishermen of the Archipelago Islands. The consequence was that 

 inside of a few years the submarine diving fleet, which had started gathering the 

 sponges first on the east coast of Africa, at the depth of only 8 to 10 feet, were obliged 

 to dive at greater depths gradually in order to find the sponges, and inside of a few 

 years they had cleaned out almost the whole extent of the newly discovered and 

 extensive sponge-grounds to the depths of 70 to 80 feet. I understand that lately they 

 are obliged to dive to the depth of 100 feet and more in order to find the sponges. 

 These experiments and solid facts are sufficient to convince one that submarine diving 

 for the sponge with diving apparatus is extremely injurious to the life and growth 

 of sponges, and I believe it is its greatest enemy. Sponges do not grow any more on 

 the grounds on which the submarine diver's shoes have walked. 



Decrease or increase in recent years. — Since 1892 there has been a gradual and marked 

 decrease in the quantity of sponges gathered yearly in Florida waters, owing princi- 

 pally to the almost continual bad weather at sea, and secondly to the careless and 

 continual gathering of very young and small-sized sponges by the fishermen, which 

 naturally tends to hurt the growing crops. 



Sponcje cultivation. — Regarding the artificial culture of the sponges, I would say 

 that experiments, some of which have been on a large and very costly scale, have 

 been tried unsuccessfully by some merchants of Trieste, and others in Europe. These 

 experiments have been made on the sponge-grounds of the Archqielago Islands, in 

 the Mediterranean Sea, and in every instance they have proved a failure. The meth- 

 ods employed have been to use the small cuttings from a live sponge and to fasten 

 these cuttings to the rocks by the means of a wire. Submarine divers have been 

 necessary to perform the work of this so-called planting of the sponges; the cutting 

 of the sponge and the planting of same were performed by these divers while under 

 water, and without bringing the cuttings to the surface. 



The only practical and successful method I can think of regarding the cultivation 

 of sponges is to let nature do its work by allowing it sufficient time. This can be 

 done by dividing the area of the sponge-grounds at sea into squares each of 100 

 miles, more or less, and then allowing the fishermen to gather sjwnges only in certain 

 squares each season of the year. 



