Sponge diving

Abstract: Historically, Turkey once had a substantial number of professional sponge divers, a population known for a relatively high incidence of diving-related conditions such as decompression sickness (DCS) and dysbaric osteonecrosis (DON). Sponge diving ended in the mid-1980s when nearly all of the sponges in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas contracted a bacterial disease and the occupation became unprofitable. We reviewed the records of Turkish sponge divers for information on their level of knowledge, diving equipment, dive profiles, and occupational health problems. Information was collected by: 1) interviewing former sponge divers near Bodrum, where most of them had settled; 2) reviewing the relevant literature; and 3) examining the medical records of sponge divers who underwent recompression treatment. These divers used three types of surface-supplied equipment, including hard helmets, Fernez apparatus, and hookahs; the latter were preferred because they allowed divers the greatest freedom of movement while harvesting sponges underwater. These divers used profiles that we now know involved a high risk for DCS and DON. We were able to access the records of 58 divers who had received recompression treatment. All of the cases involved severe DCS and delays from dive to recompression that averaged 72 h. Complete resolution of symptoms occurred in only 11 cases (19%). Thus, we were able to document the several factors that contributed to the risks in this occupational group, including unsafe dive profiles, resistance to seeking treatment, long delays before recompression, and the fact that recompression treatment used air rather than oxygen.

Abstract: Sponges and diving are connected by an old tr4dWon, the quest for bath sponges. However, thouSIlnds more sponges without. elastic-absorbent skeletons were nJlmed by tQrly zoologists who did not have the luxury of live observation and provided inadequate descriptions based on dried or pickled specimens. 1 started to dive in the Mediterranean during the tarly 19505 because 1 enjoyed the sport and the technological clulllmge. Soon 1 got interested in submari~ caves and thdr colorful occupants, mainly sponges. Studying the Qnimtlls alive and rtadi"g their poor descriptions in tile literature conuinad me IMt good spongiology Iuld to start with obserwtion lind experimentation under WQter, lind 1 joind II lumdfvl of European scientists with similar interests. Today, thanks to mJlny advarn::es in diuing ttdlnology, spongt workers IlH studying I1Ulny IISpects of sponge biology in W1£. induding systematics, morphology, reproduction, ecology, and physiology. My initilll intu~t in undtTUNltu sciena and sponge biology has prolifuated into a multi-disciplinAry, long-term resarch program on Caribbean coral-ret! ecosystems (CCRE), bllSd at a field station on the bGrriu reef of Belize.