Rock the Boat Campaign
Since its inception, access to boats has been instrumental to the conservation efforts of MLSS. In fact, it was former MLSS President, Glen Dennison, who using his own vessel and homemade equipment, discovered and mapped the majority of the Glass Sponge reefs in Átl’ka7tsem / Howe Sound. Years of effort by many MLSS volunteers and partners helped document these globally unique ecosystems, and directly led to their protection!
Since then, MLSS has expanded our conservation efforts to include Rockfish and Lingcod monitoring, Temperature monitoring, Glass Sponge research and more! After Glen’s boat “Skyliner” was retired due to advanced age MLSS expanded our partnerships with local dive charters to continue volunteer dive surveys. But thanks to funding from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, we have FINALLY been able to purchase our own project vessel!
We have been working hard to develop partnerships to expand our exploration, research, and conservation projects and this boat will allow us to accomplish these goals throughout Átl’ka7tsem / Howe Sound and beyond. We can’t wait to announce each project as details are confirmed, always with the ultimate goal of “Making the world a better place, one No-Take Marine Protected Area (MPA) sanctuary at a time”.
However, the work is not done! Our boat is currently in the shop undergoing repair and refitting at Oldschool Marine on Bowen Island. This refit will create a unique dive platform complete with mapping capabilities to continue MLSS’s legacy of identifying, and documenting important marine habitats. We have a fundraising goal of $25,000 in order to get our boat launched by spring 2025!
MLSS is a registered charity and our work relies not only on our amazing volunteers, but on generous donations. Every donation, big or small, makes a monumental difference to MLSS and the conservation of our marine environments.
So will YOU be a marine steward and help us ‘Rock the Boat’ ?
If you are interested in supporting this campaign, you can donate here. For other inquiries, please reach out to coordinator@mlssbc.com.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
