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Report on the Sponge Fishery of Florida and the 

 Artificial culture of Sponges. 



{Prepared at the request of the Colonial Office, with a view to the introduction 



of Sponge Culture in the Bahamas.) 



By 



E. J. Allen, B.Sc, 



Hon. Secretary of the Marine Biological Association, and Director of the 



Plymouth Laboratory. 



SUMMARY. 



I. The Florida Sponge Fishery. — History of the Fishery. Kinds of sponges taken. 

 Relative value of sponges. Methods of procuring sponges. Curing the sponges. 

 Sponge grounds reduced in value through over-fishing. 



Sponge Culture Experiments. — Historical. 



Experiments of Buccich. — Description of apparatus used, and manner in which the 

 experiments were conducted, Buccich concluded that sponge cuttings would grow 

 to marketable size in seven years. 

 Experiments in Florida. — Sponge cuttings said to grow more rapidly, increasing to from 

 four to six times their original size in six months, when placed under favourable 

 conditions. 

 Memorandum by Mr. Benedict, of U.S. National Museum. — Sponge culture experiments 

 do not appear to have been tried to any great extent. Fishermen opposed to any- 

 thing of the kind as likely to lead to monopoly, and the cutting oil' their means 

 of subsistence. 



Would Sponge-culture by Cuttings be Profitable ? — Marenzeller points out that this 

 would depend on whether pieces of a sponge would in a given time together attain a 

 greater weight than the original sponge would have reached if left undisturbed. 



Suggested Experiments. — Suggestions by Mr. Bidder (see below). Fishing by means of 

 divers, or dredging, should be tried in deeper water. 



II. Note on Projects for the Improvement of Sponge-Fisheries. By Mr. George 

 Bidder. 

 A. There appears no reason yet to suppose that the yield of a sponge-fishery will 

 be increased by planting cuttings, unless these are placed in more advantageous posi- 

 tions than the original sponges. Such advantage may probably be obtained by 

 attaching either cuttings or small sponges to canes or tiles, disposed on iron hurdles 

 standing some feet from the sea-bottom. No certain statement, however, can be 

 made with regard to any project, until there has been effected a series of accurate 

 observations on the natural growth of the sponge of commerce. 



