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Sponges have been experimentally farmed for over 100 years, with early attempts done in the sea to supply "bath sponges". During the last 20 years, sponges have also been experimentally cultured both in the sea and in tanks on land for their biologically active metabolites, some of which have pharmaceutical potential. Sea-based farming studies have focused on developing good farming structures and identifying the optimal environmental conditions that promote production of bath sponges or bioactive metabolites. The ideal farming structure will vary between species and regions, but will generally involve threading sponges on rope or placing them inside mesh. For land-based sponge culture, most research has focused on determining the feeding requirements that promote growth. Many sea- and land-based studies have shown that sponges grow quickly, often doubling in size every few months. Other favorable results and interesting developments include partially harvesting farmed sponges to increase biomass yields, seeding sexually reproduced larvae on farming structures, using sponge farms as large biofilters to control microbial populations, and manipulating culture conditions to promote metabolite biosynthesis. Even though some results are promising, land-based culture needs further research and is not likely to be commercially feasible in the near future. Sea-based culture still holds great promise, with several small-scale farming operations producing bath sponges or metabolites. The greatest potential for commercial bath sponge culture is probably for underdeveloped coastal communities, where it can provide an alternative and environmentally friendly source of income.

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For 3 years aspects of the population dynamics, growth, and bioactivity (measure of biologically active metabolite biosynthesis) of the Demospongiae Latrunculia sp. nov. and Polymastia croceus (Kelly-Borges & Bergquist) were examined on a subtidal reef on the Wellington south coast, New Zealand. For both species, survival of adult sponges was high in all seasons, whereas juvenile sponges had poor survival. Recruitment of Latrunculia sp. nov. occurred in all seasons indicating that this species is reproductively active throughout the year. P. croceus recruited mostly in autumn, supporting previous work that found the sponge to be reproductively active in summer and early autumn only. For both sponge species, growth rates varied greatly between individuals and were unaffected by initial sponge size within the range examined. Sponges generally grew during winter and spring as the water temperature rose, and shrank during summer and autumn as the water temperature fell. This growth pattern may relate to seasonal variation in food abundance, and for P. croceus it may result also from seasonal differences in reproductive investment. After 2 years, Latrunculia sp. nov. and P. croceus had on average, halved and doubled in size, respectively. Latrunculia sp. nov. showed a seasonal pattern of bioactivity, being most active in spring possibly to prevent the surface overgrowth of fouling organisms. P. croceus had no seasonal pattern of bioactivity, but individuals were either very active or inactive. The bioactive metabolites in both species possibly aid in competitive interactions and prevent predation and biofouling.

Dredging and natural sediment resuspension events can cause high levels of turbidity, reducing the amount of light available for photosynthetic benthic biota. To determine how marine sponges respond to light attenuation, five species were experimentally exposed to a range of light treatments. Tolerance thresholds and capacity for recovery varied markedly amongst species. Whilst light attenuation had no effect on the heterotrophic species Stylissa flabelliformis and Ianthella basta, the phototrophic species Cliona orientalis and Carteriospongia foliascens discoloured (bleached) over a 28 day exposure period to very low light (<0.8 mol photons m−2 d−1). In darkness, both species discoloured within a few days, concomitant with reduced fluorescence yields, chlorophyll concentrations and shifts in their associated microbiomes. The phototrophic species Cymbastela coralliophila was less impacted by light reduction. C. orientalis and C. coralliophila exhibited full recovery under normal light conditions, whilst C. foliascens did not recover and showed high levels of mortality. The light treatments used in the study are directly relevant to conditions that can occur in situ during dredging projects, indicating that light attenuation poses a risk to photosynthetic marine sponges. Examining benthic light levels over temporal scales would enable dredging proponents to be aware of conditions that could impact on sponge physiology.

Hundreds of thousands of seabirds are killed each year as bycatch in longline fisheries. Seabirds are predominantly caught during line setting but bycatch is generally recorded during line hauling, many hours after birds are caught. Bird loss during this interval may lead to inaccurate bycatch information. In this 15 year study, seabird bycatch was recorded during both line setting and line hauling from four fishing regions: Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, Coral Sea and central Pacific Ocean. Over 43,000 albatrosses, petrels and skuas representing over 25 species were counted during line setting of which almost 6,000 seabirds attempted to take the bait. Bait-taking interactions were placed into one of four categories. (i) The majority (57%) of bait-taking attempts were “unsuccessful” involving seabirds that did not take the bait nor get caught or hooked. (ii) One-third of attempts were “successful” with seabirds removing the bait while not getting caught. (iii) One-hundred and seventy-six seabirds (3% of attempts) were observed being “caught” during line setting, with three albatross species – Laysan (Phoebastria immutabilis), black-footed (P. nigripes) and black-browed (Thalassarche melanophrys)– dominating this category. However, of these, only 85 (48%) seabird carcasses were retrieved during line hauling. Most caught seabirds were hooked through the bill. (iv) The remainder of seabird-bait interactions (7%) was not clearly observed, but likely involved more “caught” seabirds. Bait taking attempts and percentage outcome (e.g. successful, caught) varied between seabird species and was not always related to species abundance around fishing vessels. Using only haul data to calculate seabird bycatch grossly underestimates actual bycatch levels, with the level of seabird bycatch from pelagic longline fishing possibly double what was previously thought.

Warmer, more acidic water resulting from increased emissions of greenhouse gases will impact coral reef organisms, but the effects remain unknown for many dominant groups such as sponges. To test for possible effects, adult sponges of 6 common Caribbean coral reef speciesAiolochroia crassa, Aplysina cauliformis, Aplysina fistularis, Ectyoplasia ferox, Iotrochota birotulata and Smenospongia conulosa -were grown for 24 d in seawater ranging from values experienced at present-day summer-maxima (temperature = 28°C; pH = 8.1) to those predicted for the year 2100 (temperature = 31°C; pH = 7.8). For each species, growth and survival were similar among temperature and pH levels. Sponge attachment rates, which are important for reef consolidation, were similar between pH values for all species, and highest at 31°C for E. ferox, I. birotulata and A. cauliformis. Secondary metabolites, responsible for deterring predation and fouling, were examined for A. crassa, A. cauliformis, E. ferox and I. birotulata, with 1 to 3 major metabolites quantified from each species. Final metabolite concentrations varied significantly among treatments only for zooanemonin from E. ferox and N-tele-methylhistamine from I. birotulata, but these concentrations were similar to those found in wild conspecifics. Considering adult sponges only, these findings suggest that the ecological roles and physiological processes of the 6 coral reef species will be little affected by the mean values of water temperature and pH predicted for the end of the century. KEY WORDS: Sponges · Water temperature · pH · Climate change · Growth · Metabolite biosynthesis Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog Ser 462: [67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77] 2012 els negatively affect coral reef sponges, these ecological processes and community interactions could be impacted.The combined effects of warmer and more acidic waters on marine sponges are largely unknown. Millions of years ago, mass extinctions of calcifying sponges occurred during periods of ocean acidification and global warming (Kiessling & Simpson 2011). However, most coral reef sponges today are not calcifying species; instead they have a skeleton composed of silica spicules and/or spongin fibers (i.e. demosponges), so the effects today may differ from those of archaic times. Numerous studies have also found a relationship between water temperature and sponge growth and survival. Seasonal patterns of water temperature, for example, are positively correlated with sponge growth for some tropical species (e.g. McMurray et al. 2008, Leong & Pawlik 2010, Duckworth & Wolff 2011. In contrast, high water temperatures can exclude coral reef sponges from neighboring habitats (Pawlik et al. 2007), disrupt their symbiotic relationship with microbes, causing death (Webster et al. 2008), and promote disease outbreaks that decimate sponge populations (Smith 1941). The pH level can also influence sponge abundances, with low pH seawater caused by sulphur...