World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German shoreline rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, numerous explosives have become matted together over the years. They form a rusting blanket on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions deteriorated.

We initially thought to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of ocean life had made their homes among the explosives, creating a renewed marine community richer than the ocean bottom around it.

This ocean community was testament to the resilience of life. It is actually surprising how much life we observe in areas that are considered hazardous and dangerous, he states.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were dwelling on every square metre of the weapons, experts wrote in their study 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 all life are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous places.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create alternatives, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This research shows that explosives could be similarly beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of weapons were dumped off the Germany's coast. Numerous of people loaded them in boats; some were placed in designated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time scientists have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have transformed into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more crucial for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially function as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, says Vedenin. Therefore a many of marine species that are usually rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Issues

Anywhere warfare has happened in the recent history, surrounding seas are usually containing munitions, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, partly because of sovereign limits, restricted military information and the reality that records are stored in old files. They pose an explosion and security hazard, as well as threat from the persistent emission of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and different states embark on extracting these relics, experts hope to safeguard the ecosystems that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being cleared.

We should replace these steel remains originating from munitions with certain more secure, various non-dangerous objects, like possibly concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for substituting material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most damaging explosives can become framework for marine organisms.