Like this, A diver first had to hand harvest it from the sea floor, extracting the sponges isn't a quick or simple task.

At times, divers must grab hold of a sponge with both hands using their force and a bit of wiggling side to side to extract one.

It's important that they leave enough sponge substrate attached to the seabed.

That way the sponge has the potential to regrow and the population can be sustained at a separate processing facility, producers clean batches of the extracted sponges to remove any remaining black residue from the sea, although bigger sponges are worth more.

Workers often cut them down.

This makes a sponge easier to clean and bathe with and naturally more marketable.