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Glass Sponge Reef banner - credit Neil McDaniel

May 10 2022

Glass Sponge Reefs

cpawsadmin Ocean Campaigns bottom trawl, canadian parks and wilderness society, carlo acuna, glass sponge, hecate strait, howe sound, kate macmillan, reef bc, rockfish, sabine jessen, sally leys

The Sea of Glass: Protecting BC’s unique glass sponge reefs

Deep in the cold dark waters of the BC coast lie rare ecosystems once thought extinct: glass sponge reefs! While individual glass sponges have been identified around the world, glass sponge reefs are mostly unique to beautiful British Columbia. On the north and central coasts, these living reefs stretch for hundreds of kilometres across the seafloor and reach the height of a six story building. Smaller reefs also grow in the Salish Sea on the south coast, just outside Vancouver and Victoria. BC truly has a sea of glass!

Natural Solution to Climate Change

These marine animals are an integral part of a healthy marine habitat. Glass sponge reefs provide shelter for marine life including rockfish and shrimp, store carbon on the ocean floor, filter bacteria out of the water, and fertilize the ocean. The sea of glass supports thriving culture and livelihoods for coastal communities.

With skeletons made of silica, these sponges are extremely fragile. Bottom contact fishing such as bottom trawling and shrimp trapping easily shatter their bodies. Sediment on the seafloor kicked up by these fishing methods also causes them to “choke” and stop feeding.

ID: illustration of orange rockfish and prawn silhouette by white reef

Glass sponge reefs provide habitat for economically important rockfish and shrimp

ID: White reef tube illustration with purple bacteria moving through with blue arrows

ID: illustration white reef tubes with carbon iicon being absorbed

ID: white reef tubes with 3 amonia icons being expelled

Strong Permanent Protection for the Sea of Glass

CPAWS-BC looks to protect the Sea of Glass by calling on the federal government to ban bottom contact fishing on or near glass sponge reefs with marine protected areas (MPAs) and Other Effective Conservation Measures (OECMs) such as marine refuges and fishing closures.

North and Central Coasts

North and Central Coasts
South Coast

Hecate Strait/Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs Marine Protected Area

Off the north and central coasts of BC, the Hecate Strait/Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs Marine Protected Area (MPA) prohibits bottom contact fishing. CPAWS-BC is calling on the federal government to make the MPA bigger because new research shows that sediment from beyond the one kilometre buffer zone, as far away as six kilometres, can cause the sponges to choke.

Strait of Georgia and Howe Sound Glass Sponge Reefs

On the south coast, the marine refuges and fishing closures of the Strait of Georgia and Howe Sound Glass Sponge Reef Conservation Initiative protect the Salish Sea’s glass sponge reefs. While not full marine protected areas, these OECMs prohibit bottom contact fishing. CPAWS-BC is calling on the federal government to make these protections more permanent since the current laws can be removed with a change in ministry leadership. We are also calling for better monitoring and enforcement because after the fact fines do not prevent fishing damage from occurring in the first place.

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ID: Yellow quillback rockfish on white glass sponge reef

September 1 2020

Oceans Wise report recommends implementation of full protection for all of Howe Sound’s glass sponge reefs

cpawsadmin News conservation, cpaws-bc, dfo bc, glass sponge, howe sound, prawn, rockfish, ross jameson, sea to sky

For interview, please contact:
Ross Jameson, Ocean Conservation Manager
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society-British Columbia
778-953-2372
ross@cpawsbc.org

Oceans Wise report recommends implementation of full protection for all of Howe Sound’s glass sponge reefs

September 1, 2020

Unceded Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, BC — A new report from Ocean Wise has updated the health status of Howe Sound for 2020. While there is cautious optimism with some health ratings improving, the Ocean Wise report still has many labelled as critical or cautious, including glass sponge reefs which “remain vulnerable to mechanical damage and climate change.” The report recommends implementing full protection of glass sponge reefs throughout all of Howe Sound.

Long thought extinct, glass sponge reefs mainly grow off BC’s coast. Not only do these reefs provide important habitat for ocean life such as prawns and rockfish, they also filter ocean water, provide fertilizer for plankton, and store carbon.

Glass sponge reefs are particularly vulnerable to shattering from bottom contact fishing such as prawn traps as they are composed of the same material that makes glass. A DFO survey, in cooperation with the Marine Life Sanctuaries Society, not only discovered a dead reef near Ellesmere Creek at the north end of Howe Sound, but found historical damage from fishing activities in all of the surveyed reefs.

Climate change poses an urgent and even larger problem. A study cited by the Ocean Wise report included observation of glass sponge reef mortalities associated with the El Niño climate events of 2009/2010 and 2015/2016. Additionally, a study from UBC found that warming ocean temperatures and acidification drastically reduce the skeletal strength and filter-feeding capacity of glass sponges.

In March 2019, DFO announced the closure of the nine documented glass sponge reef complexes to bottom-contact fishing. A DFO report published earlier this year confirmed five more living glass sponge reefs in Howe Sound. However, these reefs are still open to bottom-contact fishing such as prawn trapping. Even if reefs are damaged, there are no threats of fines or legal recourse for the harmful activity.

Glass sponges are under siege from multiple threats. Without the chance to grow and expand, glass sponges will lock away less carbon, exacerbating the effects of climate change. “By removing the threat of bottom-contact fishing, glass sponges will be better able to adapt to a changing ocean,” says Ross Jameson, Ocean Conservation Manager for Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society British Columbia Chapter. We need the immediate designation of fishing closures for all of Howe Sound’s glass sponge reefs to protect these rare creatures for generations.

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For interview, please contact:

Ross Jameson, Ocean Conservation Manager
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society-British Columbia
778-953-2372
ross@cpawsbc.org

Resources
Miller A, Chapman J, Dearden A, Ross P (Editor). 2020. Ocean Watch Átl’ḵa7tsem/Txwnéwu7ts/Howe Sound Edition 2020. Ocean Wise Research Institute, Ocean Wise Conservation Association, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. 388 pp. ISBN: 978-1-7772408-2-0 available online at:https://ocean.org/wp-content/uploads/OceanWatch-HoweSoundReport2020-online.pdf

Help Protect Howe Sound's Glass Sponge Reefs