1963 Tarpon Springs, Florida - Cooper Hard Hat Helmet Sponge Scuba Diving

Tarpon Springs Sponge Exchange
For years Tarpon Springs was the "sponge capital". Spongers would harvest sponges and bring them to The Sponge Exchange to be sold. In 1946 a blight, thought the result of a red tide (a toxic algae) outbreak, virtually wiped out the sponge beds. Around this same time the synthetic sponge was introduced. The combination of these two circumstances virtually eliminated Florida’s sponging industry.
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