Sponge and Chamois News and Issues

Below is a list of sponge and chamois news and issues related articles. These articles relate to our products, industry and interests. We hope you find them as interesting and informative as we do.

 

09/2017 –  Tarpon Springs sponge company goes back to family roots

Acme Sponge and Chamois Co. in Tarpon Springs has sold its chamois business to Hopkins Manufacturing Corp…Acme will continue to operate its natural and synthetic sponge business as The Acme Sponge Company, which was not part of the transaction, a press release said.

“The chamois business was almost completely automotive in nature while the sponge business spans bath, cosmetic, paint, general cleaning and hardware. Hopkins focus is automotive. Chamois was a perfect fit for them,” Jim Cantonis, president of Acme, told Tampa Bay Business Journal. “We now take Acme Sponge back to our family roots.”…read more

 

05/2017 –  The More You NOAA: What Budget Cuts Mean for Florida’s Sponge Business

The Trump administration has proposed cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) budget that will have huge impacts on the economies of coastal communities. Growing up in Florida, I know that these cuts mean more to my community than numbers on a spreadsheet. For so many of my neighbors, from the commercial fisherman to the marine researcher, these cuts will impact how they make a living and provide for their families…read more

 

08/2016 – Dirty Microfiber and Plastic Fish

Although microfiber cloth and microbeads seemed to allow for a new generation of drying and scrubbing products, we are only now beginning to understand their impacts on our environment. These types of products are made from plastics or synthetic materials that are not biodegradable, but are small enough that they cannot be filtered out by existing water treatment systems. And, as a result, are eventually washed out into our lakes, rivers and oceans to become microplastic litter. The primary source of mircoplastic litter, the most prevalent of which is microfibers, are produced from washing synthetic or microfiber cloth…read more

 

12/2015 – Tarpon Springs Business Links its Success to Florida Sea Grant

Jim Cantonis is president of Acme Sponge and Chamois of Tarpon Springs, Fla., a successful processor and wholesaler of marine sponges and sheepskin chamois products sold around the world. Florida Sea Grant contributes to the company’s success by conducting research in the biology of marine sponges that helps ensure the sustainability of the commercial fishery…read more

 

10/2015 – Clean the Fleece, Dirty the Planet

It’s getting cold. Time to break out the fleece. Warm and light, it even comes in a nice shade of green: a lot of the material used to make fleece comes from recycled plastic bottles — better in your sweater than in a landfill.

Green that is, until you run it through the washing machine. That’s when thousands of plastic microfibers get flushed into the sewer system and on to some stream, lake, river and ocean…read more

 

08/2014 – Restoring Florida Bay: Sponges the foundation for thriving ecosystem

Prior to the 1990s the Florida Keys sponge community was a lively underwater city for fish and invertebrates. Curious divers could hear the snap, crackle and pop of snapping shrimp. The noisy bottom was a sign of health for the organisms that provide nursery habitat to juvenile marine species.
But now when divers plunge to the bottom, it’s as if the sponge community is on mute. There is no hustle and bustle of creatures foraging for their next meal, only silence…read more

 

08/2014 – Sponges: The Keys to the Keys
Where have all the sponges gone? Healthy sponge populations are an important part of the Florida Keys ecosystem. But a series of harmful algal blooms has essentially eliminated once thriving sponge communities over large areas of Florida Bay and the Keys. Can this critical habitat
recover? With Florida Sea Grant funding, researchers are now testing transplant techniques to see if they can accelerate the restoration process. Initial results are promising…read more