42 THE WEALTH OF THE SEA 



the blubber is rendered into oil. The only important 

 hair-sealing grounds remaining lie in the North 

 Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, 

 Labrador, and Greenland. 



Walruses are hunted for their hides, blubber, and 

 ivory. These animals have been killed so ruthlessly 

 that they are nearly extinct. It is now illegal to kill 

 walruses in Alaska. A few are still captured on the 

 Labrador coast and in Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, 

 and the smaller islands of the Arctic Ocean. 



Sponges are obtained chiefly from the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea, Florida, the Bahama Islands, and Cuba. 

 The sponges of commerce as they appear on the 

 market are but the skeletons of the living sponge, 

 from which the soft fleshy matter of the living animal 

 has been removed. The most important commercial 

 sponges are the sheepswool, yellow, velvet, grass, 

 glove, wire, reef, hardhead, Turkey cup and Turkey 

 solid, Turkey toilet, zimocca, honeycomb, and ele- 

 phant-ear sponges. The annual production of 

 sponges in Florida is valued at nearly a million 

 dollars. 



Such is the great variety of fishery products which 

 enter into our daily life; their total value is about 

 a billion dollars a year. The sum may seem small 

 when it is compared with the value of the products 

 of many other industries, but if the supply of marine 

 products were cut off, most of them would be badly 

 missed. 



When the great size of the ocean is considered, the 

 areas that are now being exploited seem very limited. 



