Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Abandoned Weapons

In the brackish waters off the German shoreline lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off boats at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, countless munitions have accumulated over the years. They form a decaying layer on the shallow, muddy 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 jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

Researchers expected to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. It was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Countless of sea creatures had settled among the explosives, developing a revitalized marine community denser than the sea floor surrounding it.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much life we discover in areas that are considered hazardous and risky, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible piece of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, fuse pockets and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of creatures that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every square metre of the weapons, researchers documented in their paper on the observation. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are designed to eliminate everything are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous areas.

Artificial Features as Marine Environments

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer replacements, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This investigation reveals that munitions could be similarly positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of arms were dumped off the German coast. Countless of people loaded them in boats; some were deposited in designated sites, others just dumped en route. This is the first time experts have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of marine species that are usually rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Issues

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are often littered with explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our marine environments.

The sites of these munitions are insufficiently recorded, partly because of national borders, secret defense data and the reality that documents are hidden in historic archives. They present an explosion and safety hazard, as well as danger from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations begin removing these remains, scientists plan to protect the marine communities that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being removed.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, some non-dangerous materials, like perhaps artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what transpires in Lübeck creates a model for replacing material after munitions removal in different areas – because even the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.