Sponge Act passed (1914)

The United States passed into law the “New Sponge-Mining Act” on August 15, 1914.  This act replaced and repealed a prior act of the same type, passed on June 20, 1906.  The 1906 law was the first expression of the authority of the United States government to regulate commercial fishing.

Historic sponge-fishing in FLorida

The Sponge Act, as it is now known, has been in continuous enforcement since 1914.  It regulates the size of harvested sponges to five inches or bigger, measured at the broadest part of the sponge.  Size limits like these are generally used to assure that an organism has an opportunity to reproduce at least once before being harvested.  In the case of sponges, which are colonies of simple cells, reproduction is not the problem.  Instead, the size limit was created simply to allow small sponges to grow sufficiently large that enough would be around to continue a sustainable fishery.

The sponge industry continues today in Florida and throughout the Caribbean (photo by State Library and Archives of Florida)

Sponges are commercially harvested in the United States only in the state waters of Florida and the adjacent federal waters.  Florida has adopted the same 5-inch size limit on the harvest of sponges.

Although the earth’s oceans contain more than 9000 species of sponges, only a few species are commercially harvested.  The traditional harvest location was in the Mediterranean waters around Greece, but the discovery of abundant sponge populations in Florida in the mid-1800s led to a large industry developing in Florida, especially around Tarpon Springs on the Caribbean coast.

References:

Legal Information Institute.  16 U.S. Code section 781 – Taking or catching, in waters of Gulf or Straits of Florida, commercial sponges of less than prescribed size, and landing or possession of same.  Available at:  https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/16/781.  Accessed August 14, 2017.

Northeast Fisheries Science Center.  Historical Highlights.  Available at:  https://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/history/timeline/1900.html.  Accessed August 14, 2017.

Stevely, John, and Don Swear.  2016.  Florida’s Marine Sponges.  University of Florida, Sea Grant Institute, SGEF 169.  Available at:  http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/SG/SG09500.pdf.  Accessed August 14, 2017.

This Month in Conservation

September 1
Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon, Died (1914)
September 2
President Roosevelt Dedicated Great Smoky National Park (1940)
September 3
Wilderness Act passed (1964)
September 4
Fort Bragg, Home of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, Established (1918)
September 5
UNESCO Established First World Heritage Sites (1978)
September 6
Alcide d’Orbigny, French Naturalist, Born (1802)
September 7
Edward Birge, Father of Limnology, born (1851)
September 8
UN Millennium Declaration ratified (2000)
September 9
First “Bug” Found in Computer (1945)
September 10
Henry Hardtner, Father of Southern Forestry, Born (1870)
September 11
World Wildlife Fund Began Operations (1961)
September 12
Canyonlands National Park Established (1964)
September 13
Walter Reed born (1851)
September 14
Marc Reisner, Author of Cadillac Desert (1948)
September 15
Darwin reaches the Galapagos Islands (1835)
September 16
Ed Begley Jr., Environmental Advocate, born (1949)
September 17
Edgar Wayburn, Wilderness Advocate, Born (1906)
September 18
Grey Owl, Pioneering Conservationist in Canada, Born (1888)
September 19
Urmas Tartes, Estonian Nature Photographer, born (1963)
September 20
AAAS Founded (1848)
September 21
Assateague Island National Seashore Created (1965)
September 22
Peace Corps becomes law (1961)
September 23
Rose Selected as U.S. National Flower (1986)
September 24
President Kennedy Dedicated Pinchot Institute (1963)
September 25
Pope Francis Addressed the UN on the Environment (2015)
September 26
Johnny Appleseed Born (1774)
September 27
“Silent Spring” Published (1962)
September 28
National Public Lands Day
September 29
Steinhart Aquarium opens (1923)
September 30
Hoover Dam Dedicated (1935)
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