Historical shipwrecks in international waters contributes to coastal pollution
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/Keywords:
Rubber debris, Shipwrecks, Second World War, Brazil, Marine pollutionAbstract
In 2021, rubber bales appeared along the Brazilian coastline, causing environmental impacts. In this research
paper, we identified a Second World War shipwreck that was associated with this event. Numerical simulations
provided robust evidence to support the hypothesis that the origin of the 2021 bales was the MV Weserland.
Moreover, it was sunk to a depth of approximately 5,000 m with a cargo containing rubber, tin, and wolframite.
Tin is currently considered a strategic metal, with prices rising from USD 13,375/t in March 2020 to USD 34,462/t
in May 2021. We provided evidence that the departure of rubber bales from the wreck and the increase in the
price of its metal cargo were temporally associated; this reinforced the hypothesis of deep-sea unauthorized
salvage in international waters (areas beyond national jurisdiction). The novel results demonstrate that historical
shipwrecks are ticking time-bombs with risks of high and unmapped pollution in oceans worldwide.
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