Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Weapons

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline lies a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, countless munitions have become matted together over the decades. They create a rusting blanket on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons deteriorated.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin remembers his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first relayed pictures. That moment was a great moment, he recalls.

Countless of ocean life had made their homes on the weapons, developing a renewed marine community more populous than the sea floor around it.

This marine city was testament to the tenacity of life. Indeed surprising how much marine organisms we find in areas that are considered toxic and risky, he states.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were living on metal shells, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all found on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was present, states Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were residing on every square metre of the weapons, scientists reported in their paper on the finding. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are meant to eliminate all life are drawing so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer replacements, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This study reveals that explosives could be comparably beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were discarded off the German shoreline. Thousands of workers loaded them in boats; some were dropped in designated areas, the remainder just dumped en route. This is the initial instance experts have studied how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have turned into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more important for wildlife as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically serve as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of marine species that are typically uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the last century, nearby oceans are often littered with munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our oceans.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, partially because of sovereign limits, classified armed forces records and the fact that archives are stored in historical records. They create an explosion and security hazard, as well as threat from the persistent leakage of hazardous substances.

As the German government and different states begin clearing these remains, researchers hope to preserve the marine communities that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are already being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these metal carcasses originating from weapons with certain more secure, various safe objects, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what occurs in Lübeck sets a example for substituting habitats after munitions removal elsewhere – because including the most damaging weaponry can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.