538 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES, 
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 
The sponge fisheries in Austria-Hungary are located in the village of Crap- 
pano, district of Sebenico, in Dalmatia. There were, in 1904, 140 sponge 
fishermen on 70 barks. Each bark carries a rower and a fisherman, with a five- 
pronged hook which has a handle 18 meters long. The men smooth the sur- 
face of the sea by pouring oil over it, instead of using the tin cylinder with the 
glass bottom. The annual harvest of sponges per man varies from 225 to 500 
crowns in value; a few earned 800 crowns in 1897. ‘The two former figures are 
below and the latter is above the sum mentioned by the ‘“‘Condizioni’’ for the 
Italian sponge fishers in 1904, i. e., 800 francs. 
The Oesterreichische Gesellschaft fiir Seefischerei und Fischzucht, in Trieste, 
from whose reports I have taken the data for sponge fishing in Austria-Hungary, 
have recommended the diving machine to the sponge fishermen of Crappano since 
1892, the Imperial and Royal authorities of Trieste prescribing that on the coast 
of Istria and in the vicinity of the islands of Quarnero the apparatus should not 
be used at a depth of less than 12 meters and in the Dalmatian waters at a depth 
of 20 meters; but the enforcement of this requirement is very difficult. Experi- 
ments with the diving apparatus failed, however, as in all cases in which an enlight- 
ened government provided for personal safety of the divers and the future of 
the sponge beds. Observation of the necessary precautions precluded all profit. 
These efforts were met likewise with an obstinate resistance on the part of the 
majority of the sponge fishermen of Crappano, who recognized a great danger in 
the diving apparatus. Their own experience as well as the resolutions of the 
International Fishery Congress at St. Petersburg in 1902, at which the Oester- 
reichische Gesellschaft was represented, caused the latter to desist from further 
encouragement of the diving apparatus. 
‘The same society resolved in 1904 to make experiments with the dragnet at 
depths over 40 meters, having in mind the considerable results obtained by this 
mode of fishing in the waters of Lampedusa. Such an apparatus was made for 
the society by a Greek sponge fisherman in Trieste. I have not yet, however, 
obtained a report of the results it yielded. The Austro-Hungarian waters are 
divided into zones for sponge fishing, in order to allow time for the sponges to 
grow to their full size and propagate, and it is forbidden to take sponges of less 
than 6 centimeters in diameter. 
UNITED STATES. 
There are numerous sponge banks in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, 
especially south and west of Florida, Cuba, Haiti, the Bahama Islands, which are 
situated outside the Gulf, and in other places. Sponge fishing in the state of 
Florida has its centers at Key West, Tarpon Springs, and Apalachicola. In 1900 
