The North Sea is heavily polluted, and that pollution continues to increase. Several components may be to blame.
After World War II, huge quantities of ammunition were dumped throughout the North Sea. It's rusting away and now, 80 years later, toxins are leaking out in large quantities. Initial studies show that fish living near ammunition dumps are being harmed. Wind turbines have increased enormously. Plastic and PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) could be culprits, too.
As a reintroduction program aims to bring the European oyster back to the North Sea, pollution from rusted-through ammunition and nanoplastics are threatening oyster larvae.
In this two-part audio report published in German radio station Deutschlandfunk, journalist Katharina Nickoleit follows the trail of dead oysters to look into the breadth of North Sea pollution.
