Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Weapons

In the brackish waters off the German coast lies a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the World War II and neglected, numerous explosives have become matted together over the decades. They create a corroding carpet on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons decayed.

We initially anticipated to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers anticipated finding a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states a scientist.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin remembers his team members reacting with shock when the submersible first relayed pictures. It was a great moment, he notes.

Thousands of sea creatures had made their homes among the explosives, forming a regenerated ecosystem richer than the sea floor around it.

This ocean community was proof to the persistence of life. It is actually surprising how much life we observe in places that are expected to be toxic and harmful, he says.

In excess of 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, fuse pockets and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was there, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were residing on every meter squared of the weapons, researchers documented in their study on the observation. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is surprising that items that are meant to destroy everything are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most risky areas.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer alternatives, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This study shows that weapons could be comparably beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of weapons were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of workers loaded them in barges; a portion were placed in specific locations, others just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have studied how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas practically function as refuges – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of species that are typically uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Wherever warfare has happened in the last century, surrounding seas are usually littered with explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our seas.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, in part because of international boundaries, secret military information and the fact that archives are stored in historical records. They pose an detonation and security risk, as well as danger from the ongoing release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations start removing these relics, experts hope to protect the marine communities that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being removed.

We should substitute these iron structures originating from weapons with certain less dangerous, some non-dangerous materials, like perhaps artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for substituting material after explosive extraction in other locations – because also the most damaging weaponry can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.