Seas on fire

Damage of wars on oceans is everlasting, yet invisible

There are some 16 US warships – stuffed with gazillion guns, aircraft, missiles, and ammo – in Arabian and Mediterranean seas. Strait of Hormuz is aflame, as Iran deploys explosive-laden boats, targeting fuel tankers. TV news runs, in a loop, videos of jet black plumes rising up from ships ablaze – but, never, ever will there be images of the total wreckage below. News won’t talk about it, either. Thing is, war kills seas, devastates marine ecosystems, destroys coastal habitats. Few people care. There’re no dramatic videos. There’re no smart, easyto-grasp data points on the damage. So, yup, no one’s keeping tabs on warships’ debris dumped into the seas. Or on environmental cost of ships sunk. IRS Dena was torpedoed in Indian Ocean – its debris will decay, corrode, and leak – metal scrap, toxic oils, chemicals, that’ll poison, and choke marine plants & animals.

Visuals of overground warfare, on land ecosystems, is horrifying enough. But, it is well-established that war’s impact on seas is worse. For a simple reason. Seas are interconnected, damage is carried forward. So, when Russia battles Ukraine, on Black Sea, fallout isn’t contained to warring nations’ coastlines. Connected to Mediterranean Sea to its south, war’s debris wrecks its way through estuaries, salt marshes, lagoons, islands, home to dolphins, whales, seabirds, uncommon species, and 2,000 plant & animal species. Chemical pollution, heat, noise, anti-sub warfare, trigger changes in animal behaviour, and species composition. They disrupt migratory patterns, throw off nesting & feeding routes. And they kill infinite numbers of creatures, great and small. Biodiversity is resilience. War kills it.

Overground repercussions of land destruction, like in Gaza, or forests flattened – Ukraine rightly accused Russia of ecocide – are, however, the only talking points. Sunken ships, from two world wars, contain chemical poisons, unexploded munitions and, per IUCN, 6bn gallons of heavy fuel oil. Warming oceans have sped up their decay. So, ruinous oil spills are inevitable. Wars end, destruction undersea remains, in perpetuity. It’s invisible to us. And, that ignorance is a profound tragedy.

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