Between 40,000 and 60,000 tons of chemical weapons have been deposited at the bottom of the Baltic Sea since World War II. Hundreds of thousands of additional tons are conventional weapons such as combat mines.
The Baltic Seabed is just one example of how wars contaminated the sea. After World War II, between 40,000 and 60,000 tons of chemical weapons were abandoned in the Baltic Sea alone. However, Dr. Michal Czub, a biologist at the Laboratory of Contemporary Threats to Marine Ecosystems at the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, points out in an interview with Euronews that there are also huge amounts of conventional weapons that are potentially just as toxic. However, the exact impact of these compounds has not yet been thoroughly studied.ADVERTISING
« It is estimated that there were up to 200,000 marine mines in the Baltic Sea in the 20th century, which could weigh from a few tens of kilograms of explosives to a ton, » he explains. « So it is also a huge scale, a massive scale, but in terms of the quantity of these engulfed arsenals, they are much more important than these chemical weapons. »
« Suppressing the ecological effects of the current war
Although the expert is careful not to use the term « time bomb » in the context of contamination of the seabed, the corrosion of weapons resting on the bottom – whether chemical or conventional – results in the release of toxins into the water, which also results in the contamination of marine organisms. However, the extent of the phenomenon remains unknown. As the expert points out, it is not necessarily « the most abundant compounds that are potentially the most harmful. On the other hand, those that are less abundant can be much, much more harmful. »
Although the practice of spilling weapons into the sea is now prohibited by a number of international treaties and conventions – such as the 1972 London Convention, the 1971 Seabed Treaty, the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention or the Helsinki Convention (HELCOM) – this does not mean that weapons no longer penetrate the seas, says the biologist.
« This is indeed a historical subject. In the Black Sea, for example, there is currently a war, that is, ammunition is intentionally or not delivered as a result of a bombing in wartime. So we can say that we are « lucky » that in the Baltic Sea, we are investigating something historical, while despite the various prohibitions, despite everything, the world is unfortunately what it is and we are investigating historical arsenals, In fact, if the war around the Black Sea and Ukraine ends, we will use this knowledge to potentially eliminate the ecological effects of the current war. »
« All disasters should not be so obvious that they immediately result in the death of something.
As the expert says, « the Baltic is the training ground of the whole world and that’s where most of the knowledge comes from ». Thanks to research on the seabed, conducted in particular by the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in cooperation with international organizations, it is possible to study the impact of weapon corrosion on organisms and the marine environment. However, as the expert points out, this research must be carried out over time and on a large sample. Currently, there are still many gaps in knowledge that scientists are trying to fill.
What they were able to prove, for example, is that « the use of distilled laboratory water compared to the matrix that is seawater and sediments are two completely different worlds ». This contradicts the idea, spread after World War II, that seawater neutralizes the effects of chemical weapons.
« In addition, we have unfortunately been able to prove that some of these degradation products may be more toxic in water than the original compounds, i.e. that they have not been neutralized at all by immersion, which was one of the hypotheses, and that they even cause the formation of new compounds, often more toxic ».
Similar dilemmas apply to research into fish contamination. In the context of chemical weapons, the expert recalls the highly publicized cases of peritis burns in fishermen near Bornholm. Toxins have already been detected in fish swimming in the Baltic Sea, but, as the biologist points out, « the problem is that they were detected in 10% of the Bornholm fish samples that were tested, and that these concentrations were very low ».
The expert also points out that it is difficult to predict when – and if – the weapons left at the bottom of the Baltic Sea will cause a catastrophe.
« It’s something in between, because it’s hard to say, because it may already be happening [contamination – ed], but we don’t even know completely what it is. Because all disasters should not be so obvious that everything dies right away. »
Nevertheless, it was found that sea warming accelerates the corrosion of weapons left on the bottom, resulting in faster release of chemicals.
« We find objects completely corroded, » explains the biologist. « These mythical barrels, in my opinion, are already completely corroded, because we do not find them at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The slowest to corrode would be artillery shells, because they have the thickest metal. »
The paradox of international law: can the elimination of bombs violate the Chemical Weapons Convention?
Experts agree that weapons left on the seabed must be removed. However, discussions are underway on how to do this safely and taking into account the ecological aspect.
As one expert points out, it is paradoxical that the removal of weapons at the bottom of the sea could constitute a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
« Indeed, in the era of the prohibition of the proliferation of chemical weapons, the sudden possession of these compounds, the end of the chemical arsenal, constitutes a violation of international conventions. »
Research on chemical and conventional weapons in the Baltic Sea is still ongoing. The extent of the phenomenon is still unknown.
source : euro news
