Table 16. — Imports of sponges to the United States''' 



■"■ Published in various sponge and chamois trade reports. 



to search the bottom for commercial sponges. 

 When a sponge is sighted, the hooker directs 

 the rower to turn the boat in that direction. 

 When the sponge is within reach, the pole is 

 lowered quickly to the bottom, and the size of 

 the sponge is judged by the width of the hook. 

 If the sponge is large enough, the hook is set 

 into the base of the sponge, which is then torn 

 from the bottom with an upward pull. This 

 method of harvesting often tears off part of 

 the sponge or leaves a considerable amount of 

 the sponge base from which a new sponge will 

 grow. It is quite probable that the number of 

 torn sponge bases left make it possible for this 

 hooking method to continue to be used exten- 

 sively and constantly in the shallow-water 

 areas without excessively depeleting the sponge 

 beds. 



The hooking method does not produce the best 

 quality of sponges for three reasons: 



1. Normally, shallow- water sponges have 

 lighter texture and poorer quality than 

 those found in deep water, except for the 

 wool sponges growing in the Rock Island 

 area. 



2. Sponges harvested by the hooking method 

 are often torn. 



3. The hookers work the limited hooking 

 area so constantly that the sponges 



never have a chance to grow very large 

 and the average size taken is about 6 

 inches in diameter. The wool sponges 

 taken by the hookers average 16 to the 

 pound, and those taken by the divers, 

 11 to the pound. Thus the sponges taken 

 by the divers are almost 50 percent 

 heavier. 



About 35 hooking boats of various sizes are 

 operating from Tarpon Springs along the coast 

 northward of this sponging center. In former 

 times the standard hooking unit was a 30- to 

 40-foot schooner with three or four dinghies 

 in which men worked in pairs. Now, only a 

 few schooners are used. Small converted 

 pleasure craft with a crew of two, small 

 schooners, and a number of small boats that 

 work from a land base do a considerable 

 amount of the harvesting. 



At least two methods of hooking in the 

 Florida Keys are different than those found 

 in the Tarpon Springs area. In one method 

 only one man works from a dinghy. Using his 

 hooking pole, he keeps the boat in the center 

 of a shark-oil slick as the slick is moved 

 along with the tide. The oil smooths the water 

 surface and enables the hooker to identify 

 and hook the commercial sponge on the bottom. 

 The second method of hooking uses a power- 

 boat with a long boom lashed across the stern. 

 Three or four lines with end loops are attached 



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