THE COMMERCIAL SPONGES AND THE SPONGE FISHERIES. 479 
All varieties of Mediterranean sponges are found in these waters. The 
honeycomb sponge of the Cyclades is rather coarse and open in texture, but in 
Crete and many of the other islands it is of excellent quality. ‘The other varieties 
are generally excellent, but not equal to the Syrian sponges, though those from 
the vicinity of Smyrna are coarse and open in texture and inferior in quality. 
The sponge fishery is the most important and profitable of the fisheries of 
the Aigean and it ordinarily employs between 4,000 and 5,000 men, accurate 
statistics being difficult to obtain, owing to the nomadic habits of many of the 
spongers who, as it has been stated, travel to all parts of the Mediterranean. 
During the summer of 1903, 318 vessels under the Greek flag alone em- 
ployed 2,494 men in the sponge fisheries. There were 134 vessels, using 158 
diving outfits, upon which there were employed 599 divers and 1,255 others. 
Thirty-six vessels with gangavas (dredges) employed 173, while 122 craft 
engaged in harpooning were manned by 443 persons. The operations of these 
vessels appear to have extended over a considerable part of the Mediterranean, 
and two crafts were used solely in the transportation of supplies to the African 
coast. 
In 1900 sponge fishers of the Sporades produced about $900,000 worth of 
sponges and in 1901 about $810,000 worth, and in the same years there were 
exported from Pirzeus $171,791 and $280,048 worth, respectively, but undoubt- 
edly a considerable proportion of these were taken on the African coast and 
the banks of Lampedusa. ‘ 
The commander of the Greek hospital ship Kreta estimated that the Greek 
spongers took, in various parts of the Mediterranean in 1902, about 350,000 
pounds of sponges, valued at about $1,000,000. In 1902 the exports from Pirzeus 
were valued at $214,180. In rgo1 toilet sponges from the Sporades averaged 
from $8 to $13 per pound and honeycomb sponges from $2.75 to $4. The 
United States consul at Smyrna writes that during more recent years the price 
was from $4.65 to $15.60 per pound. 
The sponge fisheries of Crete are important, but the island has neither a 
local market nor native fishermen. The spongers are all Greeks from the Grecian 
and Turkish islands, who arrive on the grounds in the spring and in the fall return 
to their native places with their catch. From 150 to 200 vessels and boats, 
manned by from 800 to 1,000 men, engage in the fishery, which produces an annual 
product valued at about $160,000 to $200,000. ‘This revenue is included in that 
before given for the Grecian and Turkish isles. The fishery is carried on by har- 
poons, naked divers, and dredges, the first paying an annual license fee of $18 
and the last two $46 for each boat. The revenue of the government is from 
$4,000 to $5,000 per year. The use of the scaphander is now prohibited, mainly 
for humanitarian reasons, but also on account of the depletion of the beds, 
which were formerly much more productive. 
