THE COMMERCIAL SPONGES AND THE SPONGE FISHERIES. 481 
TRIPOLI. 
The sponge beds of Tripoli extend between the Gulf of Bomba and the region 
about Benghazi and from Misrata to the frontier of Tunis. In the western 
region some of the banks are as much as 20 miles from shore and produce a 
better quality of sponge than in the waters nearer the coast. 
Most of the fishery is carried on during the warmer season from Apri! to 
October, but a few of the more hardy crews of divers work at other times. The 
fisheries on the banks between Tunis and Misrata, which are known especially as 
the “Tripoli grounds,” from Tripoli-in-Barbary, their headquarters and market 
place, appear to have been exploited first about 1889. In 1890 they produced a 
value of $58,398, and their average annual product during the next nine or ten 
years was valued at about $165,000 per annum. The exports in 1904 were 
$337,750; in 1905, $226,196; in 1906, 232,565; in 1907, $213,300, and in 1908 
were estimated at $175,800. In 1898 there were engaged in this fishery 53 sca- 
phander vessels with crews of 963 men, and 25 dredges with 150 men. The 
former are mostly Greek, but there are a number of vessels flying the Turkish 
flag and manned by Greeks from the Sporades. The trawlers, or dredgers, are 
principally Italian. During the active fishery the Greek Government main- 
tains at Tripoli a shore hospital and a hospital ship, to care for the divers and 
sailors meeting with accident or injured by the reckless use of the diving ap- 
paratus. Four methods of fishing are practiced; naked diving, harpooning or 
hooking, dredging, and diving with the scaphander. The latter method pre- 
dominates, and of late years harpooning and dredging are said to be falling into 
disuse. The fishery appears to have reached its maximum development, despite 
efforts that have been made for its increase. The Turkish Government imposes 
a license tax upon the vessels, graduated from $147 per annum for scaphanders 
to $18 for boats employed in harpooning. Boats engaged in naked diving are 
taxed about $45 each, and trawlers pay about $13 if measuring 5 tons or under 
and $26 if above 5 tons. 
The sponges from these grounds are darker in color and inferior to those 
from the A¥gean Sea and the Levant. The first quality of bath sponges, which 
comes from the rocky bottoms, formerly brought from $1. 50 to $1.90 per pound 
and the second quality, from the grassy bottoms of the channels, from $1.15 to 
$1.50 per pound. Recently prices appear to have appreciated, the American con- 
sul at Tripoli in Barbary stating in 1908 that sponges from rocky bottom sold for 
$2.73 to $3.64 per pound, those from shingle bottom for $2.05 to $3.07, and those 
from grassy areas for $1.91 to $2.39. He states further that an average catch 
for a machine boat with 12 to 14 divers is.$6,000 to $7,000 a season, and that a 
boat with 4 or 5 naked divers will average about $1,200. About one-fourth of the 
product is marketed in Tripoli, the remainder being carried home by the foreign 
fishermen and mixed with inferior or medium grades coming from other localities. 
B. B, F. 1908—31 
