Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline sits a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the World War II and neglected, thousands munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They form a rusting layer on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

Researchers thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. It was a great moment, he notes.

Countless of ocean life had settled among the munitions, developing a regenerated ecosystem more populous than the sea floor nearby.

This ocean community was proof to the resilience of marine life. It is actually remarkable how much life we observe in places that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was there, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were residing on every square metre of the weapons, experts reported in their study on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that items that are meant to kill everything are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most risky locations.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer replacements, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This study shows that munitions could be comparably beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were disposed of off the German shoreline. Countless of individuals transported them in barges; a portion were dropped in specific locations, others just dumped during transport. This is the first time experts have studied how marine life has responded.

Global Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have become coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more crucial for marine life as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially serve as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, states Vedenin. Consequently a lot of marine species that are usually uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the last century, surrounding seas are usually containing munitions, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material lie in our seas.

The sites of these explosives are inadequately documented, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the fact that records are stored in old files. They present an explosion and safety hazard, as well as risk from the ongoing leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations begin removing these remains, experts hope to protect the habitats that have developed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being removed.

We should substitute these metal carcasses remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, various harmless objects, like possibly artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for substituting structures after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most destructive weaponry can become framework for marine organisms.