236 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



region may be open to unrestricted fishing one year and the Rock Island grounds the 

 next. 



Whatever action is finally taken by the State in this matter, there should be a 

 careful preliminary investigation by a competent board, which should inquire into 

 the special conditions in the different parts of the sponge region and determine the 

 boundaries of the areas to be successively brought under restrictive provisions. 



A final remedy for arresting the decrease in the sponge supply is the cultivation 

 of sponges, the necessity for which depends to a large degree on the carrying out oi 

 the foregoing measures. 



CULTIVATION OF SPONGES FROM CUTTINGS. 



The growing of sponges from clippings may be said to have almost passed beyond 

 the experimental stage, since the possibility of the procedure has been amply demon- 

 strated. At the same time, the business of producing marketable sponges from clip- 

 pings has not been engaged in, although there seem to be no insurmountable difficulties 

 in this country at least; and the present indications are that before five years have 

 elapsed private sponge-farms will have become established on parts of the Florida 

 coast. 



There are various reasons why the artificial growing of sponges should receive 

 attention. In the first place, sponge-culture should partly arrest the further deple- 

 tion of the natural grounds by diverting the energies of some of the spongers in the 

 direction of the possibilities of the now barren grounds. If the cultivation of sponges 

 becomes established along the many hundreds of miles of suitable coast, it will cer- 

 tainly prove a profitable employment to a large number of people, either independent 1 y 

 or in connection with other branches of industry. Furthermore, the increase in the 

 output which must follow the successful inauguration of sponge-culture will reduce 

 the dependence of the United States on foreign sponges. Finally, the State may 

 with great propriety obtain a revenue from this source. 



The lines along which the planting of sponges must be conducted have been indi- 

 cated in the different experiments already made, to the printed accounts of which 

 those especially interested are referred. 1 No detailed statement of the methods 

 employed by various experimenters is necessary for the purpose in view in the present 

 paper. 



It may be stated, however, that thirty-five years ago the question of artificial 

 propagation of sponges received attention in Kurope and was under consideration for 

 ten years; that nearly twenty years ago limited experiments were conducted at Key 

 West; that in 1889, 1890, and 1891 some very interesting trials were made in Hiscayne. 

 Bay; and that at present the matter is receiving serious attention in the vicinity of 

 Key West, where planting has begun on a commercial basis. 



While the work of Mediterranean experimenters was of a more systematic and 



1 Reference is especially made to the following articles : (1) Kxperiments in Bponge-onltaie at Km 

 West about 1880: The Fishery Industries of the United States, MO. \. vol. L', p. S.'tt. Reprinted in 

 Senate Document No. 100, second session, Fifty-fourth Congress, being ;i report of the Tinted M.ites 

 Fish Commission on the coast tisheries of Florida. ('!) Bpoaffe-oaltoral experiments in the Adriatic, 

 Sea, 1863-1872: Die Aufzncht des Badenschwammes au Theilstttoken, l.y I >r. Kmil \ on Maren/eller, 

 Vienna, 1878. An abridged translation appears in the Fishery Industries of the United States. ->. \, 

 vol. 2, pp. 833-836; the latter is also reprinted in the Senate document named. (\\) Aeeonnt of Sponge- 

 cultural experiments in Biscayne Bay, 1889-1891, by Ralph M. Munroe. Contained in Rep. U. S. Fish 

 Com. 1895, pp. 187, 188. 



