Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish waters off the German shoreline sits a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the second world war and left behind, thousands munitions have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a rusting blanket on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers thought to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us anticipated finding a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin remembers his team members reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Countless of ocean life had made their homes amid the munitions, creating a revitalized marine community denser than the seabed around it.

This ocean community was proof to the resilience of life. It is actually astonishing how much life we observe in locations that are supposed to be hazardous and harmful, he states.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one accessible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of creatures that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were living on every meter squared of the weapons, experts reported in their research on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand creatures on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that objects that are designed to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can offer replacements, restoring some of the lost habitat. This research shows that weapons could be comparably positive – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of arms were disposed of off the German coast. Countless of people loaded them in barges; a portion were placed in designated areas, others just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance scientists have studied how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

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

These places become even more crucial for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively act as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. As a result a numerous of marine species that are otherwise uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Issues

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the recent history, surrounding seas are typically containing munitions, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds rest in our seas.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, partly because of international boundaries, secret military information and the reality that archives are hidden in historical records. They present an explosion and security hazard, as well as threat from the persistent release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and other countries start clearing these relics, researchers hope to protect the marine communities that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are presently being extracted.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures remaining from weapons with certain safer, some safe objects, like perhaps concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what transpires in Lübeck creates a model for substituting structures after munitions removal in other locations – because also the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.