With other results also going their way, Dale are still in the race for automatic promotion.
Rochdale were on top throughout the whole of the game with Morecambe setting out their stall to frustrate them and the plan might have worked but for Howe's goal.
In a first half of one-way traffic, Morecambe keeper Scott Davies kept his side in the match, making saves in the 11th minute from David Perkins and Adam Rundle three minutes later.
Then, in a 22nd-minute goalmouth scramble, he managed to keep out efforts from Tom Kennedy and Howe before home skipper Gary Jones saw his goal-bound effort cleared off the line by defender Jim Bentley.
At the other end, home keeper Tommy Lee was no more than a spectator throughout, and it was Davies who was again kept busy at the start of the second half.
However, he was powerless when Howe fired home a powerful 12-yard shot midway through the second period after the visitors' defence had failed to clear their lines from a corner.
Morecambe boss Sammy McIlroy made changes having seen his side fall behind, but the Shrimps failed to register an on-target shot in the game and the home side might have gone on to win by a wider margin with Perkins, Jones twice and Kallum Higginbotham all off target when perhaps they might have done better.
In the dying seconds Davies capped a fine performance by denying substitute Ben Muirhead as he burst through as he successfully managed to keep the scoreline respectable.