At the start of her #SicherLeben tour of Germany, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited our Fraunhofer research group in Rostock on July 14. Our scientists explained not only the ongoing dangers posed by legacy munitions in the sea, but also presented solutions: at the Ocean Technology Campus (OTC), a wide range of maritime research institutions and companies have joined forces to jointly research and work on the sustainable use of the oceans.

The President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Reimund Neugebauer, also gained an on-site overview of the many research projects – ranging from low-cost sensor systems for classifying legacy munitions and augmented reality applications to the use of ROVs (remotely operated vehicles).

Around 300,000 tonnes of unexploded ordnance from the World Wars are still located in the Baltic Sea, with an additional 1.3 million tonnes in the North Sea. Further corrosion and the release of various toxic substances would amount to an ecological disaster. This makes us all the more pleased that the issue has now been firmly anchored on the political agenda.