Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound Designated Proposed as Marine Protected Area

Posted on June 29, 2015

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans of Canada have introduced the proposed Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs Marine Protected Areas Regulations under the Oceans Act. The Regulations propose to designate four sponge reefs collectively as a Marine Protected Area (MPA) covering a discontinuous area of approximately 2,410 km2 and set out general prohibitions to protect the reefs while allowing exceptions for specific activities that do not compromise the MPA conservation objective.

The hexactinellid (glass) sponge reefs, located between Haida Gwaii and the mainland of British Columbia in the Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound, are considered to be the only living example of the large glass sponge reefs that were abundant in the Jurassic Period. The reefs are made up of large colonies of glass sponges and are estimated to be 9 000 years old. They discontinuously cover an area of about 1 000 km2. The slow growth and fragility of these sponges make the reefs particularly vulnerable to damage and disturbance since recovery may take tens to several hundreds of years. Due to the highly sensitive nature and structure of the reefs, human activities in and around the reefs could pose a risk to the structural habitat, biological diversity and ecosystem function of the reefs

The MPA would comprise three spatially distinct components to encompass the northern reef, the two central reefs, and the southern reef. Each component would have three management zones: a core protection zone (CPZ), an adaptive management zone (AMZ) and a vertical adaptive management zone (VAMZ). Together, the establishment of these zones, and the associated prohibitions, would provide for the conservation and protection of the biological diversity, structural habitat and ecosystem function of the glass sponge reefs through the management of human activities.

Read the proposed Regulation