Sponge Reef Areas of the Pacific Region

Sponge reefs are constructed by hexactinellid (glass) sponges of the Order Hexactinosida. The sponges trap fine sediments, and over centuries of sponge growth and sediment trapping, form large bioherms or reef mounds. Glass sponge reefs are unique habitats found along the Pacific coast of Canada and the United States and they have significant historic, ecological, and economic value. They link benthic and pelagic environments by playing important roles in filtration and carbon and nitrogen processing, and acting as silica sinks. They also form habitat for diverse communities of invertebrates and fish, including those of economic importance. Thus, accurate and up-to-date information on the location and spatial extent of sponge reefs is important to the management and conservation of many of Canada’s Pacific marine species. We generated a map of known sponge reefs, derived from two source shape files: 1) Sponge_Reef_West_Coast, mapped by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), 2) Howesound_Nine_reef_polygons and 3) HoweSound_Five_reef_polygons, which were mapped by DFO and NRCan. The resultant polygon shapefile is published on the GIS hub as a file geodatabase feature class.