One Langford diver’s quest to see a variety of local ancient cloud sponges took him back to his technical roots, with a program reboot and stunning reward in the Saanich Inlet.
Ryan Swan set out on a search for cloud sponges – a species of glass sponge known as aphrocallistes vastus – organisms built from silica, forming intricate skeletons made of microscopic glass-like structures called spicules.
There are a few places in B.C. to see them, a more common underwater sight in Vancouver. On the Island, they’re a little harder to find. He’d been looking in the Inlet, shore diving, and couldn’t find get there.
“I just kept striking out,” he said, and took his problem to some “tech divers” who recommended he go deep – that meant revisiting technical training done years ago.
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He jumped in, started practising again, and wound up taking a further course at Wilson’s Diving in Colwood – where they’re outfitted for training divers to go beyond recreational limits. It’s the kind of training that emphasizes special gear, gas management, decompression, equipment redundancy and how to deal with emergencies.
“It’s cool its a lot of fun to learn a new skillset and be able to do something more advanced,” Swan said, adding diving in a team with Vancouver Island tec divers and Bak Tec Diving left him with a nice collaborative feeling.
The team went twice – first to 40 metres, then to 45 metres.
“That’s the best place to see those sponges at Christmas Point, in my opinion,” Swan said.
The entire process is captured on film and shared on his YouTube channel, in the name of conservation and education.
“Once you’re down there it’s beautiful and there are so many of these cloud sponges growing off the wall and there’s lots of interesting variations and shapes of sponges,” he said. “They’re very fragile and a delicate species, they can get damaged by boat anchors, by fishing equipment. Any sort of protection or conservation efforts towards them is good for the environment and good for the species.”
There are three types of reef-building glass sponges in B.C. – cloud sponge, goblet sponge (heterochone calyx) and farrea occa, which doesn’t have a common name.
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A federal Marine Protected Area implemented in 2017 in the Hecate Strait protects four major glass sponge reefs thought to be more than 9,000 years old. The Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs MPA conservation objective is to conserve the biological diversity, structural habitat and ecosystem function of the glass sponge reefs.
Swan documented the entire process – creating a video equal parts technical training journey, tech diving adventure and underwater exploration. He hopes it also inspires a protective nature in waterway users.
Find the full episode online at youtube.com/@beseaadventures.
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