In her heart Kalymnoswhere the ports were once full of sponges and the roads were driving to the sea, the Manolis Koutouzis He guided us to a world of hard work, salty and loss. In his 81st year he still works, no longer as he used to, but as a trader and processor of natural sponge, and remembers how sponge -era has almost disappeared from the era of acne.

Manolis Koutouzis is one of the last people who lived in the golden age of sponge. A profession that once made the island famous and rich but also deprived many lives.

“I was born in 1944. At 15 I went down to the boat for the first time to help my father, who was a captain and sponge. Since then I have never left the sea, “he says, speaking to the Athens and Macedonian News Agency.

Sponges in Kalymnos has deep roots and is an integral part of the island’s life for over four centuries. The inhabitants of the barren islands of the Southeast Aegean, Kalymnos, Symi and Halki, turned to the sponge as a main source of survival. Their art, passing from generation to generation, lasted until the mid -1980s, when the natural sponges began to disappear from the Mediterranean.

The sponge took the island out of poverty

“Kalymnos had nothing else to offer then. The sponge was the only source of wealth. The Kalymnians left their homes and entered the boats at a price. There were children who never knew their father. They were born as long as he was missing for the sponges and never turned back. ”

He remembers a scene from his childhood, who never forgot: “I was young and I went with a classmate to greet his father, who was a captain and was preparing to sail with the sponge. A mother was crying on the pier. As if he were feeling it. Her son was a 22 -year -old lad. He was gone to dive. He didn’t come back. He died on his first trip. ”

By diving to commerce

From the 1950s to the mid -1980s, Kalymnos has flourished.
“The sponges then made three times the fishermen. In the winter on the island we had bouzouki, fun, money. The sponge gave life to everyone, “recalls Mr. Koutouzis.

Growing up, he followed in his father’s footsteps but also engraved his own course.
“I opened jobs in America. I have turned almost all the states. I went to the Bahamas, to Florida, where the Cubans were sponges. I brought them to Greece, edited them and sent them to Japan. I worked with Moscow, with Thailand, with all of Turkey. Now I work mainly with Libya and Tunisia. I am still traveling with my two sons, who have taken over the job and continue the profession. Every trip lasts around twenty days. ”
“The negotiations have always been harsh,” he says. “Many have gone bankrupt. I kept going, because I knew how to do. ”

The art and the danger of the diver

“The divers had to be fasting. The captain did not let them put a single olive in the mouth before diving. If you ate something, you were in danger of being paralyzed at the Great depths. I have seen them dive to 70 meters without food from the morning. ”
“The sponges were from 5 meters and down, but the good ones were deep, at 30 to 60 meters. There were the so -called “capes”. The other species that distinguish the sponges are the “hare”, the “fine” and the “mantapas”. 70% of the sponges we are working on today are caps, “says Mr. Koutouzis.

Wealth and sacrifices

“I lost friends. A 27 -year -old, a 20 -year -old, a 47 -year -old man. It was a dangerous profession, but it gave a lot of money. You could change your life. In Kalymnos there were traders who were one of the richest people in the world. ”

One of them, he recalls, was the benefactor Nikolaos Vouvoukis, who donated, among other things, to the island of the Naval School and the Hospital, all “made of sponge money”.

Porcelain and sponge

“The Germans and the Czechoslovaks bought huge amounts of sponges. They used them in porcelain production, in the molding process, to take the right shapes. They were basic material in their industry. Then, of course, the natural sponge was replaced with the synthetic which is much cheaper. ”

1986: The year that the sponges died

“In 1986 the disaster came. Suddenly the sponges were white, they got sick. No one knew what hit them, they say that chemicals and pollution were to blame. Since then, in the Mediterranean, the natural populations of sponges have almost disappeared, and few sponge still survive in very limited areas. The island suffered enormous damage. I was 42 years old then, I lost my profession. ”

The destruction of 1986 is now considered a turning point. The populations of natural sponge have never been fully recovered. Today sponges in large quantities are mainly coming out in areas of Libya and Tunisia, from which traders, such as Mr. Koutouzis, are supplied for processing and exporting.

Decline and memory

“At my father’s time, 80% of the Kalymnians dealt with the sponge. Others were diving, others were trading, others processed them. We were 30,000 people on the island. Now we are less than 18,000. After the ’90s we began to deal with tourism. Until then, the sponge was all our lives. ”

Manolis Koutouzis continues to travel. It takes the sponges from North Africa, processes them in Kalymnos and sends them to Europe, China and Japan.
“The natural sponge is an expensive species, but it is not compared to the synthetic. It is more enjoyable in the body, it lasts up to five years. And it’s part of the sea, something that will never be replaced. “