environmental disaster
Fish deaths in the Oder: Poland and Germany advise
The dead fish are collected with the help of a flexible dam. photo
© Marcin Bielecki/PAP/dpa
Who and what is to blame for the death of fish in the Oder? After widespread public criticism, Poland and Germany are advising together. So far, the clarification of fish deaths seemed tough.
After widespread public criticism, Germany and Poland are jointly discussing the clarification of the massive fish kill in the Oder. Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) wants to meet her Polish counterpart in Szczecin on Sunday evening. For days there had been open criticism that Poland had not provided information about the fish kill in good time and had not complied with reporting chains.
However, the search for the cause continues. Further laboratory results are expected in Brandenburg on Monday. Among other things, it is checked whether an increased salt content in the water is related to the fish kill.
The Polish government suspected that a huge amount of chemical waste might have been dumped into the Oder. Poland offered a reward of more than 200,000 euros to clarify the fish kill, which was rated as an environmental disaster. The state environment ministers of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania also want to be present at the joint consultations between the neighboring countries of Poland and Germany on Sunday evening in Szczecin.
In the meantime, the people on the Baltic Sea are also concerned. According to the Ministry of the Environment in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, no fish carcasses have been discovered in the German part of the Szczecin Lagoon. “So far, the water police have not spotted any cadavers; residents have not reported anything of the sort to us either. Nevertheless, we are still on the alert and are monitoring the situation on site very closely,” said State Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) on Sunday in Schwerin.
300 helpers over 80 kilometers
Hundreds of helpers collected dead animals in the Oder border area in Brandenburg at the weekend. On the shore in the small town of Lebus in the Märkisch-Oderland district, an unpleasant smell spread on Saturday due to the decomposition, as a dpa reporter reported. You could also see birds flying away with dead fish. Rescuers wore rubber boots and gloves to protect themselves from direct contact with the water and fish. “I reckon with several tons of fish that we get out,” said Thomas Rubin for the district administration on Friday. The Lord Mayor of Frankfurt (Oder), René Wilke, said that the banks of the Oder in the city area have now been largely cleared of dead fish.
The mayor of Schwedt an der Oder, Annekathrin Hoppe (SPD), described the fish kill as an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented proportions. Representatives of the Lower Oder Valley National Park fear that the effects could drag on for years. Meanwhile, the left-wing member of the Bundestag Christian Görke called for the federal government to promise financial aid for affected cities and companies. It is also incomprehensible and unacceptable that after almost a week there is still no specific cause known, he said.
Before the meeting with her Polish counterparts, Federal Environment Minister Lemke asked for clarification on the background to the fish kill in the Oder. The government of the neighboring country had already admitted that information about the environmental disaster had not been passed on within Poland either, she told NDR Info on Sunday. “This information reached us much later.” The aim of the meeting on Sunday evening must now be “to solve this crime”. She expects clarification about what water samples have been analyzed so far and what the cause of the damage could be.
According to the Brandenburg Environment Minister Axel Vogel (Greens), the Oder has “very much increased salt loads”. These are salts dissolved in water. According to the State Ministry, this could be related to the fish kill. “According to current knowledge, however, it will not be a single factor that caused the fish kill in the Oder.”
chemical waste in the river
In Poland, too, analyzes indicated increased salt levels in the water, as Environment Minister Anna Moskwa told the PAP news agency. “The high salinity of the Oder may have activated other toxic substances in the water or in the bottom sediment. The toxicological examination of the fish will help identify any pollutants that contributed to the deaths of the animals.” The Polish government does not see the heavy metal mercury as the cause.
At the end of June, according to the government, Polish authorities had indications that there were masses of dead fish floating in the river. The government and authorities are now being criticized for not having passed on information in good time. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki therefore dismissed the heads of the water authority and the environmental authority on Friday evening. He only found out about the massive fish kill on Wednesday. “I was definitely informed too late.”