percent in this area during the coming 4 years. 

 There is, however, the probability that new 

 areas coming into production may relieve the 

 pressure on the present sponging areas and 

 allow them to recover at the above predicted 

 rate. This phase of the problem is discussed 

 more fully in the final section of the paper. 



Sponge fishermen believe that a major por- 

 tion of the yearly fluctuation in landings is due 

 to variation in weather conditions that deter- 

 mine the number of days of fishing. Some of 

 the fluctuation in sponge production is un- 

 doubtedly related to the finding of new sponge 

 beds, to long periods of inclement or favorable 

 weather, and to other factors. In 1956 for ex- 

 ample, the returns by the hooking boats fell 

 off by 14 percent from the previous year, 

 principally because of a local sponge disease 

 north of Tarpon Springs and the destruction 

 of the sponges by fresh water in the area north 

 of the Steinhatchee River. Diving boats in- 

 creased their landings by 26 percent in the 

 same period because of the excellent produc- 

 tion in the Cape Sable area. 



When reporting various losses of sponges 

 on the bars, sponge fishermen often state that 

 only the young sponges were left and the larger 

 sponges were killed off. Presumably, there- 

 fore, the younger sponges are more resistant 

 to disease and adverse conditions than the 

 mature sponges. 



The price per piece for wool sponges has 

 been dropping steadily since 1952 (table 15). 



This decline, however, may be checked, for the 

 situation in the Mediterranean has changed re- 

 cently. The Egyptian Government has intro- 

 duced restrictions on sponging, making it 

 practically impossible for the Greek sponging 

 fleet to work along the Egyptian coast. With 

 the demand for sponges in Europe said to be 

 increasing, shipments to American buyers 

 have decreased (table 16). If the demand in 

 Europe continues and synthetic sponges do not 

 make further inroads to displace the use of 

 domestic natural sponges, the present price 

 and demand may continue. 



PRESENT STATUS OF THE 

 SPONGE INDUSTRY 



Methods of Harvesting 



At the present time there are three distinct 

 groups of spongers employing two basic 

 methods of harvesting — hooking and diving. Two 

 of these are sponge hookers — one group in the 

 Tarpon Springs area and the other in the Florida 

 Keys area. The divers make up the third group. 



The Tarpon Springs hookers traditionally 

 use a heavy round- bottomed dinghy with the 

 rower sitting on a raised seat in the middle part 

 of the boat. The hooker kneels in the bow of 

 the boat with a water glass in one hand and 

 in the other a long pole with four-pronged 

 rake or hook fastened to the lower end. The 

 water glass or glass- bottomed bucket is used 



ERRATA — page 57 



Table 15. — Average prices per sponge for sponges sold on the Tarpon 



Springs Sponge Exchange 



Includer^ ml?cellaneous types of riponses. 



57 



