NATIONAL FISHERY CONGRESS. 233 



3. In general there has been a smaller catch per man and per vessel. Very many 

 trips result in a loss to the owners or outfitters of the vessels, and it is now the 

 exception for a vessel to bring in the average catch of earlier years. 



4. The catch is very noticeably made up of small sponges, those under the legal 

 size constituting a too prominent proportion. 



The causes for the decrease are readily determined and are almost unanimously 

 recognized by spongers and buyers. They are directly traceable to indiscriminate 

 fishing, although stress is laid on natural agencies by some of those interested. 



TAKING OF SMALL SPONGES. 



This is undoubtedly the principal cause of the decrease in the supply of Florida 

 sponges. While the State law, which has now been in force fifteen years, expressly 

 forbids the sale of sponges less than 4 inches in diameter across the top, the law has 

 never been seriously regarded by fishermen, dealers, or sheriffs, and the occasional 

 spasmodic efforts made to enforce it have only added to the disrepute in which the 

 statute is held. It is extremely doubtful if the law has resulted in the saving of a 

 single undersized sponge or the slightest protection of the grounds. The attempt to 

 remind the spongers of the existence of the law has usually been on the arrival of the 

 fleet, when the damage has been done, and by the time vessels have returned to the 

 grounds the law has been conveniently forgotten by law officers and law breakers 

 alike. 



Some figures are available which illustrate the great damage done to the industry 

 by the gathering of small sponges, and show how short-sighted the fishermen are in 

 this respect, and emphasize the necessity for a change in the present status. 



The very small sheepswool sponges which the fisherman bring in, many of them 

 only half the legal size, have little market value. When a sponge-buyer purchases a 

 cargo these small sponges receive scant consideration and are often entirely discarded 

 in determining the value of the lot. When undersized sponges are sold independ- 

 ently it has not infrequently happened that 20 bunches or strings, each holding 25 

 sponges, have brought the fishermen only $1 or $2. The same sponges if left on the 

 grounds six months longer would have been worth $150 to $175. A case is cited in 

 which 1,250 sheepswool sponges were sold in Key West for $5. Conservative esti- 

 mates indicated that if left down six months longer these would have brought at 

 least $390. 



It is a very small sponge which the average sponge fishermen will now discard, 

 and yet, on the authority of reputable dealers, it may be stated every season there are 

 many thousands of sponges gathered which never reach the markets, but are thrown 

 away. It may be safely asserted that each year the small sponges taken from the 

 Florida grounds would add $100,000, or 30 per cent, to the value of the product if 

 they could be left growing for six months. 



EXCESSIVE FISHING. 



Coincident with the gathering of small sponges has been the excessive sponging 

 on grounds, season after season, without any regard whatever for the preservation of 

 enough stock to secure the repopulatiou of the beds. A sponge fisherman will rarely 

 willingly or knowingly leave any sponges of value on a ground; and the entire history 

 of the sponge industry shows a flagrant disregard for the preservation of the supply. 



