“Sponges are not primitive. They are simple, yet sophisticated organisms. The value of sponges to humans is their capacity to build habitats that provide food for other marine life as well as us, and they hold a diversity of chemical structures significant for the development of antiviral drugs. Surely these are reasons enough to protect the sponges and their habitats.”
Category: Articles
Nature’s Own Artwork Under Threat
Marine Life Sanctuaries Society (MLSS BC) President, Glen Dennison, along with volunteer divers Greg McCracken and Tori Preddy, recently went back to check on one of the rare glass sponge reefs in Átl’ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound, and invited CBC News reporter, Susana da Silva, along to bring attention to these rare and endangered bioherms under threat of…
Átl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound Swimming Project – Final Swim
On Friday October 15, marathon swimmer Jessi Harewicz will attempt to swim a 10.1 km ‘skin’ swim in a water temperature of 10-11 C around Smelhmelhélch/Passage Island from Ch’axáý/Horseshoe Bay, finishing at Whytecliff Park. This is the final swim in a series of swims that Jessi started in 2018 with her circumnavigation of Nex̱wlélex̱m/Bowen Island. After an agonizing…
Swimming the Sound for Glass Sponge Reefs: Aětl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound Swimming Project
Jessi Harewicz swims Howe Sound to build awareness of the rare and fragile glass sponge reefs.
Jessi has a deep and abiding love of nature and the marine world. This is her special way to help protect what she loves.
Reefs and Rockfish Protection
The MLSS, Marine Life Sanctuaries Society, is focused on protecting unique marine reefs and underwater environments.
Larval Settlement Project and Volunteer Divers 2020 by Sheila Byers
Larvae of the cloud sponge, Aphrocallistes vastus, the key reef-building species in Howe Sound (partnered with the fingered goblet sponge, Heterochone calyx), are known to disperse and mix genetically across the sponge reefs in the Salish Sea. But where are these larvae? Not only are the larvae microscopic and difficult to see or find, little…
Sharks in Vancouver Harbour
Sharks in Vancouver Harbour By Glen Dennison Infrequently, divers in Howe Sound were reporting encounters with the Bluntnose Sixgill Shark (Hexanchus griseus). Several of our dive team members had seen one. So, the question kept coming up, were these transient sharks transiting from Puget Sound? We understood that studies from the Seattle Aquarium had found…
MLSS Statement of Achievements
MLSS Howe Sound Statement of Achievements Dec 7, 2020 Recent narratives in the media whether directly, by omission or association, have failed to portray the significant role that MLSS has played in leading Citizen Science efforts to protect the glass sponge reefs in Howe Sound. Over the past several decades, MLSS discovered, mapped and protected…
Ground-truthing Glass Sponge Reefs from the CCGS Vector
On May 27, 2019 an early morning ride on BC Ferries from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale quickly found me on the Sunshine Coast heading for nearby Hopkins Landing. A Coast Guard zodiac with the Chief Research Scientist from DFO Habitat Ecology Program, Dr Anya Dunham, was at the dock waiting for several of us to…
Oceans Day – June 8, 2019
Oceans Day June 8, 2019 The MLSS set up a display for the DFO researchers at PSEC (Pacific Science Enterprise Centre, West Vancouver), Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard, Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, MP for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, other scientists and guests. Directors Glen Dennison, Adam Taylor and student Mikalyn Trinca Colonel attended the…
Marine Life Sanctuaries Society 