Nazi Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline sits a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, countless weapons have become matted together over the decades. They form a decaying blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

We initially anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recounts his team members shouting with surprise when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of sea creatures had made their homes on the munitions, developing a renewed ecosystem richer than the sea floor surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are considered hazardous and harmful, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed piece of TNT. They were living on metal shells, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the quantity of animal life that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were living on every square metre of the munitions, scientists reported in their research on the finding. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that objects that are designed to eliminate everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most risky areas.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can offer replacements, compensating for some of the removed marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that munitions could be similarly advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Numerous of individuals loaded them in barges; some were deposited in allocated areas, others just thrown overboard during transport. This is the first time scientists have studied how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more important for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations effectively serve as refuges – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of organisms that are typically uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Considerations

Wherever warfare has taken place in the last century, adjacent waters are usually littered with weapons, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our oceans.

The sites of these weapons are poorly documented, partially because of international boundaries, restricted defense data and the fact that records are stored in historic archives. They present an explosion and security danger, as well as danger from the ongoing release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries begin removing these remains, scientists plan to protect the marine communities that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are currently being removed.

We should replace these iron structures left from munitions with some less dangerous, various non-dangerous materials, like perhaps artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for substituting material after weapon clearance elsewhere – because even the most harmful armaments can become framework for new life.