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Publication No. 106  Recommendations for Establishing a Commercial Sponge
Industry Within the Region Prepared
by Richard
A. Croft For The
Center for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture FOREWORD This report is divided into two sections. The first, covering Phases I and II, summarizes the accomplishments of the past two years and the knowledge gained from these accomplishments. The second section, covering Phases III, IV and V, recommends procedures to establish a commercial sponge industry within the region and includes a time frame for each step. Center
for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture Publication #106 This project was funded by
a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Center for Tropical
and Subtropical Aquaculture (U.S.D.A. grant Number 88-38500-3884. Ms. Alcian Clegg of the Center
for Tropical and Subtropical processed this publication for viewing on the
World Wide Web – August 23, 2000 SECTION ONE: ACCOMPLISHMENTS The
following activities have been completed toward establishing a commercial
sponge industry within the region: PHASE I – SURVEY POHNPEI AND ESTABLISH NURSERY The United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization’s Aquaculture Development Programme sponsored a
survey of wild sponges within the Pohnpei lagoon. No concentrations of wild commercial-quality sponges were found
outside of the one known sponge bed located on the north side of Pohnpei
Island. However, this survey found many locations within the Pohnpei lagoon suitable
for sponge culture. Under a project sponsored by the
Center for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture, a small demonstration farm
for commercial sponges has been established, where both growth and survival
rates are being measured. More than 4,000 sponges have been planted, and 400
have been measured and tagged. Thus
far, the survival rate for the planted sponges has been in excess of 95
percent. Under
this phase, an economic evaluation regarding the feasibility of culturing
sponges has already been made. Samples of cleaned 2-year-old to 2.5-year-old
sponges from the small private sponge farm on Pohnpei were sent to three
potential buyers. A very favorable response was quickly received from two of
the sources, Both of whom indicated the value of a 4- to 5-inch sponge was
$1.00 to $1.25. A
buyer from the West Coast stated that he would be willing to accept at least
1,000 sponges per month, and a buyer from Florida stated, through Sea Grant
agent John Stevely, that he would be willing to accept at least 200,000
sponges per year. During late May, 1990, approximately 120 18- to
26-month-old cultured sponges from the private farm in Pohnpei were displayed
at the Guam/Micronesian Island Fair.
Of these, 107 were sold for an average price of $6 each. Based upon the above quotes and information, an economic
evaluation was done that indicates commercial sponge farming has a strong
potential for success (Croft, unpubl. Data). Virtually all of the work to date indicates the strong
potential success of commercial sponge farming. The only major impediment to
this surfaced during the survey, which showed that wild sponges are not
abundant enough to support establishing new commercial operations within
Pohnpei state. This observation was
supported by the opinions of two sponge experts who made site visits to
Pohnpei that were funded by outside agencies. The UN/FAO funded a study on sponge culture by Dr. Clive
Wilkinson of the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Wilkinson’s report stated that, assuming
the quality of the Pohnpei commercial sponge is sufficient to attract a good
price on the international market, “there is high potential that a sponge
farming venture in the lagoon of Pohnpei would be successful in producing a
cash crop for fishermen: (Wilkinson, 1989, p. 14). The Pacific Island Network sponsored the second visitor,
Florida Sea Grant Agent John Stevely. He reported: “Although abundance of
wild sponge stock is sufficient to initially provide sponge farm seedstock
economically, it is not known whether long-term harvesting pressure would
reduce wild sponge abundance to a level at which collection of seedstock
would become prohibitively labor intensive. Therefore, the concept of farming
sponges for seedstock may have considerable merit” (Stevely, 1989, p.9). SECTION TWO: STEPS TOWARD THE FUTURE If we are serious about establishing a commercial sponge
farming industry in Pohnpei Lagoon, we must build upon the information
obtained to date. This will be done during the next four phases. PHASE II – NURSERY EXPANSION First, we must expand the nursery farm because wild stocks
are not sufficient to support new commercial farms. This nursery farm will be
used to demonstrate techniques while training potential farmers and to
provide trainees with seedstock material to start their own private farms.
Expanding the nursery farm to 25,000 cuttings will take at least one year.
Thereafter, the nursery can be used to train six to 10 potential farmers per
year. PHASE III – TRAINING AND EXTENSION SUPPORT Pairs of potential farmers will undergo training for 30
working days. During that time, trainees will become thoroughly familiar with
culturing commercial-quality sponges. Trainees will be required to plant at
least 2,000 sponges during their training period. They will be shown how to
cut a large sponge into small cuttings suitable for planting, how to string
each cutting on lines suitable for grow-out and how to select a suitable
growing site. All training will stress proper techniques for handling and care
of cuttings to ensure a high survival rate. After completing the instruction period, trainees will
each be given 500 sponges a month for four months – enough to produce at
least 8,000 cuttings. These cuttings are to be used to establish their own
private sponge farms. However, to get the sponges during the second, third,
and fourth months, farmers must have properly planted and maintained the
previously obtained batches of sponges on their farms. Farmers can re-divide
the cuttings after 12 months to further expand the farms. Growth and survival
rates will be monitored at the private sponge farms established around
Pohnpei Island. When trainees have 2-year-old sponges ready to harvest,
they will be shown how to properly clean and prepare the sponges for market.
Upon request, marketing assistance will be provided to them through extension
support services. Establishing an adequate nursery and training farm will
take at least one year. The next two years will be spent training potential
farmers, assisting them with start-up of their own farms and providing
extension services for grow-out, farm expansion, harvesting, cleaning, and
marketing. PHASE IV – SURVEY OTHER AREAS Once several private commercial farms are established and
operating on Pohnpei, we can start to expand the technology to other areas.
The first step critical to establishing commercial farms on other islands is
identifying a source of wild sponges. If the number of wild sponges is
limited on a particular island, then a nursery similar to the one on Pohnpei
will have to be established. Based upon past work done by the Japanese, the
likelihood is very good that wild sponges can be found in Palau, in the Chuuk
lagoon, and at several atolls in the Marshall Islands. The fact that
commercial-quality sponges were found by the Japanese in the Marshall Islands
indicates commercial-quality sponges may be found within other atolls in the
region. Some initial survey work has been completed in Chuuk and Yap states
and in the Marshall Islands. This work is expected to continue in 1992.
Islands like Guam, American Samoa, yap, Kosrae, and the Northern Marianas
have mostly fringing reefs and very little lagoon area. The chance of finding
wild commercial-quality sponges in those locations is unlikely. Moving sponges from one island to another
may not be a good idea because of the potential to introduce other exotic
organisms along with the sponges. PHASE V – TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TO OTHER AREAS Once stocks of commercial-quality sponges can be
identified within other areas, one of two courses can be followed. First,
personnel from each area can receive instruction at the training farm in
Pohnpei. Following training, they can return to their respective areas and
serve as the nucleus for establishing commercial sponge farming in their home
areas. Follow-up visits by experienced personnel will be provided to assist
the farmers. However, this approach will be possible only if wild
stocks in each area are sufficient to support such an activity. If local wild
sponge stocks are limited, the alternative would be to establish nursery
farms like the one in Pohnpei in each area. After the nurseries are
established, then the other steps can be followed. Farm start-up and
extension work in other areas will be dependent upon the success of the
training and extension effort in Pohnpei. SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES
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