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This work shows a sea lion playing with a naval mine diguished as a beach ball. No one can escape the presence of war, even when peace is made. If the mines are no longer connected to their cable and drift away, they can be the cause of accidents, both at sea and on the coast when the mines wash up. The TNT does not dissolve in the water, but is toxic to the soil and this has a long-term impact on the marine ecosystem.
Their flexibility and cost-effectiveness make mines attractive to the less powerful belligerent in asymmetric warfare. The cost of producing and laying a mine is usually between 0.5% and 10% of the cost of removing it, and it can take up to 200 times as long to clear a minefield as to lay it. Parts of some World War II naval minefields still exist because they are too extensive and expensive to clear. Some 1940s-era mines may remain dangerous for many years.