830 1I1STORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



5. ORIGIN OF THE FLORIDA SPONGE FISHERY. 



Mr. Silas Stearns furnishes the following historical sketch of the Florida sponge fishery : 

 Prior to 1850 all of the sponges used in the United States came either from the Mediterranean 

 Sea or the Bahama Islands, but about that time attention was first called to the abundant sponge 

 growths occurring on the reefs of South Florida. The people of Key West had used these sponges 

 for many years in their houses and about their boats, but considered them of little or no 

 commercial value, and did not discriminate between the different varieties. In or about the year 

 1852, specimens of the most durable variety of Florida sponges, the so called " sheepswool ", 

 were secured and prepared for market, and were found to compare very favorably with many of 

 the Mediterranean grades. After this, the Key West firms of Samuel Kemp & Sons and Brown 

 & Curry bought all the sponges brought in at the rate of 10 cents per pound. At first the busi- 

 ness was little understood, and, from want of capital, the proper vessels, and working gear, it 

 advanced but slowly. As foreign sponges became more costly, however, the demand for Florida 

 sponges rapidly increased, and the profits became so tempting as to induce the Key West merchants 

 to engage in the business much more extensively than before. Key West was nearer the sponge- 

 grounds than any other moneyed city of the Gulf Coast, and moreover, its people were, as a class, 

 accustomed to a sea-faring life. It was natural, therefore, that it should take the lead in the 

 Florida sponge fishery, and year after year they have added to their fleet of sponging vessels, and 

 to the number of their packing-houses, until now the business has assumed large proportions, and 

 has become a source of great profit to the Key West merchants. 



About the year 1870, Apalachicola first sent out several vessels to gather sponges, in conse- 

 quence of the discovery of rich sponge-grounds between Saint Mark's and Cedar Keys. Before 

 that time sponging had been entirely confined to the neighborhood of the Florida reefs. The 

 discovery of this section and of a similar one between Cedar Keys and Auclote Keys gave a new 

 impetus to the industry, for it was found that a greater quantity of a superior quality of sponges 

 could be obtained from these regions by the same means employed about Key West, and the 

 longer distance to be traveled by the Apalachicola vessels was not regarded as an important 

 obstacle to the trade. 



6. THE DANGERS OF OVERFISHING; ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF SPONGES. 



DANGER OF EXHAUSTING THE SPONGE-GROUNDS. More than 75 per cent, in value of all 

 the Florida sponges marketed are of the finest or sheepswool variety. Formerly only the larger 

 specimens of the sheepswool sponges were taken by the fishermen, but when, from overfishiug, 

 the supply of large sponges became greatly diminished on the grounds then being worked, they 

 began to bring in every size, down to the very smallest that could be sold, and a much larger 

 quantity of the small and inferior specimens are now seen in the markets. Notwithstanding this 

 indiscriminate fishing the annual yield has not increased during the past four or five years, and 

 the receipts at the New York market have continued about the same. This condition of affairs, 

 unless the facts have been overstated, does not promise well for the future of the Florida sponge 

 fishery, and we can but hope that steps will be taken to thoroughly investigate the subject with 

 the view of preventing, if need be, the destruction of so valuable an industry. The sponge, like 

 the oyster, is a stationary animal, and is also restricted in its distribution to certain limited areas, 

 which are favorable to its growth. The supply is entirely dependent upon the yield of these 

 few grounds, and is in no way influenced by migrations from without. This renders it possible for 

 a sufficiently large fishing fleet to completely exhaust the supply in a comparatively short time, 



