Nazi Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the second world war and left behind, numerous munitions have become matted together over the years. They comprise a corroding layer on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons deteriorated.

We initially thought to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

When the team went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recounts his scientists reacting with shock when the ROV first relayed pictures. It was a remarkable experience, he says.

Countless of sea creatures had established habitats on the weapons, creating a renewed marine community more populous than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much life we observe in areas that are supposed to be dangerous and harmful, he states.

More than 40 starfish had gathered on to one visible piece of explosive material. They were living on iron containers, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found 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.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every meter squared of the munitions, experts reported in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are intended to kill everything are attracting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most hazardous locations.

Artificial Features as Marine Environments

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create replacements, compensating for some of the removed marine environment. This investigation reveals that explosives could be similarly advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Thousands of individuals transported them in barges; a portion were placed in specific sites, the remainder just thrown overboard en route. This is the initial instance experts have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more crucial for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas practically serve as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. Therefore a lot of organisms that are otherwise scarce or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has happened in the recent history, nearby oceans are often containing munitions, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material rest in our oceans.

The sites of these explosives are inadequately documented, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted military information and the fact that records are stored in historical records. They create an detonation and security hazard, as well as danger from the persistent leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations start extracting these relics, scientists hope to protect the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these steel remains remaining from weapons with certain safer, some harmless materials, like maybe artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what occurs in Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing material after weapon clearance in other locations – because including the most destructive armaments can become framework for ocean ecosystems.