World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off barges at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, countless weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a decaying layer on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

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

Researchers thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us thought they would find a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of ocean life had made their homes among the weapons, developing a renewed marine community more populous than the sea floor surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed surprising how much marine organisms we discover in places that are considered dangerous and risky, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had gathered on to one exposed piece of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the quantity of animal life that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand animals were living on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists wrote in their study on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that items that are meant to kill all life are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most risky places.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, compensating for some of the destroyed habitat. This research shows that weapons could be comparably positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were discarded off the Germany's coast. Countless of individuals placed them in boats; some were placed in specific areas, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have turned into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. As a result a many of marine species that are otherwise uncommon or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Factors

Wherever warfare has occurred in the last century, nearby oceans are typically littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our oceans.

The locations of these explosives are inadequately recorded, partially because of national borders, secret armed forces records and the reality that documents are buried in historical records. They pose an explosion and security hazard, as well as danger from the persistent release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations begin extracting these remains, scientists hope to safeguard the marine communities that have developed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being cleared.

We should substitute these steel remains originating from weapons with certain less dangerous, various safe materials, like maybe concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a precedent for replacing material after munitions removal elsewhere – because also the most damaging weaponry can become framework for ocean ecosystems.