Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, countless munitions have accumulated over the decades. They create a rusting blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

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

When the team went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first relayed pictures. This was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Thousands of marine animals had settled among the weapons, creating a revitalized habitat denser than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the resilience of life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we find in places that are supposed to be dangerous and harmful, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible piece of explosive material. They were living on metal shells, detonator compartments and storage boxes just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of animal life that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, experts reported in their study on the observation. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are meant to kill everything are hosting so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, replacing some of the removed habitat. This research shows that munitions could be comparably advantageous – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were discarded off the German coast. Countless of workers placed them in barges; some were placed in designated sites, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have documented how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have become reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for organisms as the oceans are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively function as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. Consequently a many of organisms that are usually rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Issues

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the recent history, surrounding seas are often strewn with weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, partly because of sovereign limits, secret military information and the fact that archives are stored in old files. They pose an detonation and safety risk, as well as danger from the persistent leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and other countries start extracting these relics, experts aim to protect the ecosystems that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being cleared.

It would be wise to replace these metal carcasses left from weapons with some less dangerous, various non-dangerous materials, like perhaps artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He now aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for substituting material after munitions removal in different areas – because even the most harmful weaponry can become framework for ocean ecosystems.