20th ASCOBANS Advisory Committee Meeting AC20/Doc.3.5 (S) Warsaw, Poland, 27-29 August 2013 Dist. 16 August 2013 Agenda Item 3.5 Review of New Information on Threats to Small Cetaceans Underwater Unexploded Ordnance Document 3.5 Environmental Nongovernmental Organizations’ Perspective on Underwater Munitions Action Requested Take note Comment Submitted by Secretariat NOTE: DELEGATES ARE KINDLY REMINDED TO BRING THEIR OWN COPIES OF DOCUMENTS TO THE MEETING Secretariat’s Note The enclosed paper was kindly provided to the Secretariat by German NGO Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU), in order to assist the Advisory Committee with its new Work Plan Activity No. 5, “Review knowledge about and potential adverse effects of underwater unexploded ordnance as well as methods for its environmentally-friendly removal and make appropriate recommendations to Parties and other relevant authorities”. The Advisory Committee may wish to note, as an additional extensive information resource on the issue, the pages of an international conference on the subject which was held in November 2010. All presentations, workshop reports and a summary of results of the conference MIREMAR: Minimizing Risks for the Environment in Marine Ammunition Removal in the Baltic and North Sea can be accessed online. COMMENTARY Environmental Nongovernmental Organizations’ Perspective on Underwater Munitions AUTHORS agents (Nehring, 2011). In the period taneous detonations, shock waves Kim Detloff before WWII, munitions were also can seriously injure marine ani- Ingo Ludwichowski dumped, but there are no official esti- mals or result in acoustic trauma Nature and Biodiversity Conservation mates of quantities (Nehring, 2009). (Koschinski, 2011). Union (NABU), Berlin, Germany Also, some types of rocket propel- The long-term environmental lants, solid or liquid, are carcinogenic effects of chemical substances (muni- Petra Deimer or mutagenic. In other seas, even tions constituents and their degrada- Hans-Jürgen Schütte radiologic and nuclear weapons or tion products) are extremely variable Society for the Conservation waste from their production have and not adequately investigated. The of Marine Mammals (GSM), been dumped. explosive compounds, such as trinitro- Hamburg, Germany The most pressing challenges are toluene (TNT) and royal demolition Ulrich Karlowski to develop a scientific basis to better explosive (RDX, hexogen), and their Society for Dolphin Conservation understand the potential impacts of degradation products are highly toxic (GRD), Munich, Germany all kinds of underwater munitions. and can even be carcinogenic, muta- Sven Koschinski This requires that we immediately ex- genic, or teratogenic (toxic for repro- Meereszoologie, Nehmten, Germany plore and map dump sites and assess duction) (e.g., Won et al., 1976). theriskstheyposeonacase-by-case Furthermore, heavy metals such as basis. There are still knowledge mercury (in its organic form) and lead, uropean waters, like others gaps, but time is too short to twiddle used in fuses and detonators, have an Eworldwide (e.g., Plunkett, 2003; one’s thumbs. Old underwater muni- extremely high bioaccumulation po- Bearden, 2007), are crammed with tions are ticking ecologic bombs, and tential, resulting in highest concentra- various types of unexploded ordnance an immediate strategic and inter- tions in marine top predators (e.g., (UXO) and sea-dumped discarded national approach is needed to address Atwell et al., 1998), adversely affect- military munitions (DMM) (HELCOM, this forgotten and mostly invisible ing their endocrine systems (e.g., 1995; OSPAR Commission, 2005; threat. Kakuschke et al., 2005). To illustrate Amato et al., 2006; Böttcher et al., this risk: the WW II munitions in 2011). Underwater munitions pose German marine waters contain about serious risks to the marine environ- Environmental Risks 500 tons of mercury (Nehring, 2011). ment and human health alike. As UXO and DMM can adversely im- Given the numerous exposure much as 1.6 million tons of conven- pact marine life in different ways: paths to various substances, it is often tional ammunition and chemical war- (1) When dissolved or particulate impossible to link adverse ecological fare (CW) material were dumped into chemical substances are spread in effects to certain substances. This the German waters of the North Sea the water body from corroded should not give rise to the assumption and the Baltic Sea after World War II munitions, these substances or that there is no problem if no direct (WWII) in order to demilitarize exist- their degradation products effects can be attested. The fact that ing arsenals of the German and allied can have toxic effects to various handling of substances of concern re- armies (Böttcher et al., 2011). These organisms. quires extensive safety measures in contain up to 500,000 tons of carcino- (2) During removal using blow- order to avoid serious adverse health genic explosives and other highly toxic in-place operations or from spon- impacts in humans shows that they January/February 2012 Volume 46 Number 1 11 should not be considered harmless in People accidentally come into contact 4-amino-2,6-dinitrotoluene in blue biological systems. with munitions or substances released mussels; Maser, 2011). The exposition Detonations are the loudest point from broken or corroded shells (in path to toxic compounds and their source of underwater noise with pres- solution or as particles of various movement through the marine food sure peaks of up to 300 dB (re 1 μPa sizes). A number of accidents with web is not well investigated, but it is 1 m) and can cause dramatic conse- old ammunition in Germany are conceivable that persistent substances quences for all marine life (on an indi- reported by Nehring (2007, 2008). could find their way into seafood vidual level and likely on an ecological Fishermen and workers in offshore products. Seafood is not monitored level) and marine vertebrates, in partic- businesses (e.g., diving, oil and gas, for munitions constituents. ular. The adverse effects range from offshore wind farming, cable and acoustic trauma damaging the cochlear pipe-laying, dredging) run a specific structure in the inner ear to deadly risk of encountering conventional The Legal Framework injury resulting from shock waves munitions or CW agents (HELCOM, There are different legal instru- (Koschinski, 2011). The full spectrum 1995; Böttcher et al., 2011). Conse- ments that potentially regulate inter- of adverse effects on all marine life is quently, it is conceivable that fish or national approaches to addressing poorly understood, in particular with other seafood from contaminated the problem of underwater UXO and respect to population level effects in hauls will find their way into the DMM, although munitions are not different species (e.g., the critically en- market. This has been officially docu- explicitly mentioned. The existing dangered harbor porpoise in the Baltic mented in Germany in a number of legal instruments suffer from incom- Sea). As a consequence, the precau- cases (Nehring, 2011). Because old plete data or unclear wording and tionary approach has to be applied to munitions fills or munitions fragments rarely keep pace with continuously comply with international environ- being washed up cannot be easily iden- increasing scientificknowledge.The mental law. This approach states that tified as being extremely hazardous, most relevant legislation relating to if a risk of causing harm to the environ- beachgoers and bathers are also at risk. European waters is presented here. ment is suspected but scientificcon- Bioaccumulation of toxic sub- The United Nations Convention sensus is missing, the burden of proof stances in fish and other seafood is a on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) falls on those taking an action (such as reason for human health concerns. defines rights and responsibilities of detonating a mine or bomb in the sea). Extended exposure to seawater and nations in their use of the world’s Underwater explosions can also corrosion is resulting in the release of oceans. It establishes guidelines for cause toxic effects. The detonation of substantial amounts of toxic com- business, the environment, and the munitions does not necessarily result pounds from ammunition into the management of marine natural re- inthecompletecombustionofall sea floor and surrounding waters over sources. Article 192 generally obliges munitions constituents. Especially a considerable time. There are sub- signatories to “protect and preserve low-order detonations with incom- stantial quantities of toxic compounds the marine environment.” In addition, plete combustion cause contamination in the ammunition and a concern is Article 194 calls on states to take all with dissolved (Pfeiffer, 2008) or par- whether the rate of release will remain appropriate measures necessary to ticulate toxic munitions constituents steady or will change significantly. ensure that activities in areas under such as TNT (ESTCP, 2002; Pfeiffer, This requires monitoring at specific their jurisdiction do not damage the 2009). By contrast, heavy metals con- sites in order to frequently reassess environment. These measures shall tained in munitions are always released risks. “prevent, reduce, and control pollu- into the environment by detonations Measurable quantities of explosive tion” in order to “minimize to the full- because they cannot be degraded or residues were detected in various est possible extent” potential adverse burnt. biota including fish from the vicinity