Hagedorn demands rapid recovery of ammunition in the Baltic Sea - 100 million euros!

Hagedorn demands rapid recovery of ammunition in the Baltic Sea - 100 million euros!

The UN Ocean Conference in Nice, held on June 28, 2025, shed important light on global ocean conservation. As part of this conference, SPD member of the Bundestag Bettina Hagedorn from Ostholstein raised her voice for an accelerated recovery of old munitions in the Baltic Sea. In a 100 million euro program, Environment Minister Carsten Schneider has taken responsibility for ammunition recovery and is planning to build a floating platform that will help retrieve dangerous old ammunition from the sea and safely destroy it.

In his speech at the conference, Schneider emphasized the urgency of these measures and announced an immediate program aimed at quickly eliminating military legacy issues. In addition, on June 10th he signed an agreement with the French Environment Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher for intensive German-French cooperation on this project. The need to eliminate the dangers posed by dumped ammunition was also heard by Hagedorn, who criticized the Kiel state government for its lack of financial support and emphasized the responsibility of the federal government.

The problem statement

According to tagesschau.de, there are hundreds of thousands of tons of dumped old ammunition lying on the bottom of the North and Baltic Seas. This not only poses a threat to human health, but also causes massive damage to the marine environment. It is estimated that around 1.6 million tonnes of munitions rot in the water, which can lead to the release of pollutants such as TNT and carcinogenic chemical compounds.

Global warming and the expansion of offshore wind energy are adding to the problem and are having a negative impact on endangered species. In order to effectively meet the challenges, the federal government is planning to tighten the rules for marine protected areas. Currently, 46 percent of German marine areas have already been designated as protected areas, with the aim of strictly protecting 10 percent of the areas and giving nature space to recover.

Technological advances

As [klimastiftung-mv.de](https://klimastiftung-mv.de/ Sprengstoff-fuer-die-umwelt-munitionsbergung-in-der-ostsee/) reports, innovative technologies should also be used in the context of ammunition recovery. Robotic technology is used to locate, recover and defuse old ammunition under water. A remotely controllable crawler from Sea Terra and a newly developed oven for disposing of ammunition scrap are promising approaches. The Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ammunition recovery service has already recovered 1,500 tons of ammunition, which now need to be disposed of properly.

The coming years will be challenging, but with the right will and technological advances, significant progress could be achieved. Bettina Hagedorn will serve as main rapporteur in the budget committee for the Ministry of Environment and Climate Protection for the next four years and will continue to organize public events on ammunition recovery. The reporter reports that it is planned to carry out test rescues in the Bay of Lübeck in the summer of 2024 in order to initiate the necessary steps.

The political framework conditions have been created, the technological possibilities are available - it remains to be hoped that with combined forces, the sinking of old ammunition in the sea and the associated dangers will soon be a thing of the past.