The last two decades have seen a renewed interest in the potential for sponge aquaculture to contribute to supplying the growing global demand for bath sponges. Bath sponges are the most common use of aquacultured sea sponge today. Bath sponges can be defined as any sponge species possessing only spongin fibers – which are springy fibres made from collagen protein. Commercial uses for bath sponges range from cosmetic, bath, or industrial purposes, with the quality of the sponge based on analysing the quality of the sponge skeleton, with those possessing soft, durable and elastic fibres commanding the highest price.
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A more economically viable method for cultivating bath sponges would be transferring sponges to larger mesh bags as sponge growth occurs to enable adequate water flow and nutrient sequestration.
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The use of bath sponges for bathing and other purposes originated in Greece and spread all around Europe during the Middle Ages. From there, the use of sponges spread further, with Mediterranean bath sponges currently being shipped globally. S. officinalis was used by humans in many ways in the past. Aside from using the sponge for washing, some of these uses included padding in Roman soldiers helmets, as absorbent material during surgeries, as medicine to help digestive issues, and as a primitive "contraceptive sponge".
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The most economically important group of demospongians to human are the bath sponges. These are harvested by divers and can also be grown commercially. They are bleached and marketed; the spongin gives the sponge its softness.
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The patient claimed that he followed the strict hygienic guidelines pertaining to catheters, so an environmental factor is responsible for the infection. They ended up tracing the origin of the bacteria to a bath sponge. In order for researchers to validate these findings, they also tested bath sponges from other households and found P. oryzihabitans in some separate samples as well. This suggests that the water could be contaminated with these bacteria, which in turn, could lead to potential infections in certain individuals.
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Sea sponges are produced on a commercial scale to be used as bath sponges or to extract biologically active compounds which are found in certain sponge species. Techniques such as the rope and mesh bag method are used to culture sponges independently or within an integrated multi-trophic aquaculture system setting. One of the only true sustainable sea sponges cultivated in the world occur in the region of Micronesia, with a number of growing and production methods used to ensure and maintain the continued sustainability of these farmed species.
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More than 8000 species of sea sponges live in oceanic and freshwater habitats. Sponge fishing historically has been an important and lucrative industry, with yearly catches from years 1913 to 1938 regularly exceeding 181 tonnes and generating over 1 million U.S. dollars. However, this demand for sea sponges has seen catch rates peak and in 2003 the demand for bath sponges was 2,127 tonnes, with global production from harvesting only meeting a quarter of that amount. Early aquaculture research into optimising techniques for sea sponge aquaculture used a number of farming methods.
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In order to prevent an infection from these bacteria, good hygiene is required, especially when foreign materials or objects like catheters are in the body. However, even this cannot completely prevent P. oryzihabitans because of environmental contamination that could lead to acquirement of this organism. In cases of patients with indwelling catheters, special care should be taken so that a community-acquired infection does not occur. It is recommended that these people should avoid the use of bath sponges and wet items for skin care, as these can be sites of growth and contamination of the bacteria.
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For example, if the ecological role of the secondary target metabolite was to deter predators, mimicking predation via wounding the sponge before harvesting may be an efficient technique to maximise metabolite production. Some sponges producing metabolites grow extremely quickly, suggesting that farming sponges may be a viable alternative to producing bioactives that at present cannot be chemically synthesised. Although sponge farming for bioactives is more lucrative owing to its higher value-adding properties, there are several challenges that are not present when aquaculturing bath sponges, such as the high costs associated with metabolite extraction and purification.
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Bath sponges are currently being produced using the sponge Coscinoderma matthewsi with production of about 12,000 sponges, sold locally to residents and tourists in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia. These sponges are one of the only true sustainably farmed sea sponges in the world. The sponges are farmed via the rope method, with low investment costs of a few thousand dollars for farming and maintenance equipment, producing 100% natural sponges with no harsh chemicals added during processing. Aquaculture production of C. matthewsi sponges was undertaken by the Marine and Environmental Research Institute of Pohnpei (MERIP), to try and generate a sustainable income for local community residents with few options to earn money.
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