INTRODUCTION 



According to Contract No. lU-19-008-2378, the work to be 

 performed by the University of Florida Engineering and Industrial 

 Experiment Station for the U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 

 was the delivery of background information for a grade standard on 

 natural sponges. In general, the objectives were: 



l a To assemble information from which a voluntary Federal 

 standard of grade and condition of sponges could be developed by 

 the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries when the need for it had been 

 demonstrated, 



2, To prepare a report on current industrial practices in the 

 classification of sponges. Sensory tests were to be supplemented by 

 developed quantitative tests wherever possible. 



3» To recommend a sound system of grading based on the above 

 information, giving ranges and evaluation weights. 



These objectives now have been achieved, and the results have 

 been given in a report on file at the U. S. Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries and at the University of Florida. Since that report is 

 somewhat voluminous, owing to the fact that it contains most of the 

 original data that were taken, it has been substantially abridged* 

 The present report is the result of that abridgment. 



References 



A selected list of references is given at the end of this report. 

 The system of grading proposed here differs markedly from most of 

 those discussed in these references. Faults that require demerits 

 in sponges are more numerous than are those in other products reported 

 in the literature. Fortunately, these faults can be described and 

 recognized readily — even to degree — by anyone skilled in the trade. 



Worthy of special mention is the reference pertaining to fish 

 sticks (United States Standards for Grades of Frozen Fried Fish 

 Sticks), since the present work resembles in many respects that on 

 the grade standards for fish sticks more closely than it does that 

 on any other standards. 



What Sponge Users Want 



For background information, a census was taken of a cross 

 section of customers in St. Petersburg, Florida as to what they 

 wanted when they bought a sponge. The census indicated (1) that 

 the user of sponges is interested in several properties present in 

 natural sponges but not present in synthetic ones and (2) that 

 wearability and ability to hold and release water are of prime im- 

 portance. 



