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Data Protection Declaration
Imprint
Effects of marine dumped munition on fish (CONMAR-Fish)
Project
Project code: TI-FI-08-FI-2021-2433
Contract period: 01.12.2021
- 30.11.2024
Budget: 393,418 Euro
Purpose of research: Applied research
Marine dumped munition is a global problem. In German waters of the North and Baltic Sea about 1.6 million metric tons of munition were dumped after World war two. The munitions shells are corroding and environmentally toxic substances are released to the marine environment. The CONMAR project consortium will investigate in more detail locations and conditions of marine dumped munition in German waters, as well as their possible impact on the environment. CONMAR-Fish investigates potential impacts of marine dumped munition on fish, as fundamental part of marine ecosystems and important source for human nutrition. Research of the last years revealed that fish take up harmful substances from marine munitions (heavy metals, explosives, chemical warfare agents). These detections were clearly above detection limits but have not yet reached alarming levels. However, not all contaminated areas were sampled yet and it has to be expected that amounts of leaking toxins increase with ongoing corrosion of munition shells. Up to date, fish were only investigated from some munition dump sites in the Baltic Sea. With the present project, range of investigated sites will be extended, particularly also to the North Sea. Strategies to monitor intoxication of fish by munition compounds will be developed for marine habitats in the North and Baltic Sea. A further core area of the present initiative comprises of laboratory studies to investigate effects of munition compounds on fish. There is no doubt that explosives (such as TNT) in dumped munitions are carcinogenic and toxic. However, toxic effects of explosives are concentration depended and leaking substances are diluted in marine environments. With laboratory experiments, we therefore want to test how environmentally relevant concentrations of explosives influence vital parameters of fish and cell cultures. Another important question that will be addressed with the present initiative is to which extend explosives are accumulating in food chains. Therefore, invertebrates and fish will be sampled along food chains and investigated for residual munition compounds. The expected results will enable the assessment of effects of marine dumped munition on fish stocks in the Baltic and North Sea.
Section overview
Subjects
- Marine fisheries
- Toxicology
