In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

SPONGE BUSINESS

In Business, July-August, Vol. 29, No. 4, p. 24

Delia Montgomery

HUMANS are fortunate to have such a beautiful renewable natural resource as sea sponges in our oceans. It is remarkable how they survive pollution where other sea creatures can't. That is because they have the ability to regenerate into new forms of life from even the tiniest fragments of another. Baby sponges resemble plankton, and after a few days of free floating, will attach themselves to a hard surface and begin to grow. When their food supplies diminish from contamination, the sponges fragment and lie dormant until growing conditions improve. Scientists believe that age, environmental conditions and food supply may be related to their size, ranging from tiny to rather enormous. Undoubtedly, the cleaner we keep our oceans, the more sponges people can harvest.
History dates as far back as the 5th century B. C. where the Greeks of the islands of the Aegean Sea were the founders of natural sponging. The Public Records Office, Archives Section, by the Ministry of Education and Culture, published a booklet titled The Sponging Industry.
Before the advent of the synthetic age, early Mediterranean and European civilizations used the natural sea sponge for many daily tasks like painting, washing and sweeping floors, or as a way to gather drinking water when cups or other vessels were unavailable. Roman soldiers lined their helmets with sponge, and healers used the burnt sponge as a therapeutic aid for certain maladies. Uses dwindled to selected areas like arts and crafts, painting and redecorating, or for use in surgical operating rooms.
A sponge's life span ranges from a few months to 20 years or more. Scientists say that harvest actually enhances the health and population of others. There are subspecies of Porifera. The word means pore-bearing and refers to the many tiny openings, or holes, visible on all sponges. Some thrive in the deepest regions of the seas, including sea caves where there's little or no light. Some varieties even live in fresh water. There are approximately 5,000 species of sponges to date.
Gloria Starita is the proprietor of Jade and Pearl in Florida, where her company bath sponges are sustainably harvested. She also offers Sea Pearls, completely natural sea sponge tampons. All of her company sponges exclude dioxin applications or synthetic fibers. Gloria's tampon sponges are collected from the Bahamas and Greece, also in a sustainable manner. She reminds me that Cleopatra used sea sponge tampons. Reusable for six months or more, Gloria points out that sponge tampons are incredibly economical. And so are cosmetic sponges, which is another natural species. Makeup artists claim they are superior to synthetics and ideal for sensitive skin. A sea sponge is good for washing dishes too. They don't retain that annoying odor that synthetic sponges do.
Commercial harvesters typically immerse sponges in a mixture of water and hydrochloric acid, a procedure often used in food preparation. It gives them a blonde coloring before sold by merchants. Jade and Pearl, however, utilizes hydrogen peroxide, a more respected method for the green market. Sponges are carefully inspected, sorted by their purpose, and trimmed to shape when necessary.
Gloria tells me the industry is closely monitored by suppliers as well as several environmental agencies. Jade and Pearl harvesters stay clear of coral reefs. In fact they're hand-gathered by divers one by one, the old-fashioned way. The species her company utilizes are Bahamian Hard Heads, as well as Atlantic, Mediterranean and Wool Silks.
Commercial sponge studies are ongoing within several organizations. For one is the Conservation Society of Pohnpei. CSP is a group of local individuals concerned with the need to preserve Pohnpei's natural heritage while encouraging sustainable development. They strive to mobilize community participation in resource management, promote conservation policies and laws, and develop successful alternatives to resource exploitation. CSP supports the Lenger Island community in sponge farming. Their markets include local hotels and restaurants, U.S. private interests in Washington, D.C., the Community Conservation Network in Hawaii, The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota, and Swatch supporting conservation work in Tokyo, Japan.
Sponge farms with an emphasis on conservation and minimal impact to the environment would help defray the overall costs of sponges and theoretically attract the interest of green wholesalers. Wouldn't that be nice?

Delia Montgomery is an environmental design consultant and eco shopper for home, body and garden products. She is author of the “Chic Eco Materials Directory” 2007 Edition. Questions or comments are welcome. Visit www.ChicEco.com or e-mail Info@ChicEco.com.