Nazi Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German shoreline lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off barges at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, thousands explosives have become matted together over the decades. They create a rusting layer on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says the lead researcher.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recounts his scientists reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. This was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Numerous of sea creatures had established habitats amid the explosives, developing a renewed marine community denser than the seabed nearby.

This ocean community was proof to the persistence of marine life. It is actually surprising how much life we find in areas that are considered hazardous and risky, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were living on iron containers, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was present, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were living on every meter squared of the explosives, experts documented in their research on the finding. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that objects that are designed to destroy all life are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, compensating for some of the removed marine environment. This investigation reveals that weapons could be equally advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of arms were dumped off the German coast. Countless of people loaded them in boats; some were dropped in specific areas, others just discarded at sea en route. This is the initial instance researchers have studied how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more valuable for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations essentially function as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of organisms that are otherwise rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has happened in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are often littered with weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our marine environments.

The positions of these munitions are poorly documented, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the fact that documents are stored in historical records. They pose an detonation and safety hazard, as well as threat from the ongoing release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and other countries begin clearing these relics, scientists plan to preserve the habitats that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are presently being removed.

We should replace these metal carcasses left from weapons with some more secure, some non-dangerous objects, like perhaps artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He now aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for substituting habitats after munitions removal in different areas – because even the most harmful explosives can become framework for marine organisms.