The mayor of Schwedt, Annekathrin Hoppe (SPD), described the fish kill in the Oder as an environmental disaster of unprecedented proportions.
The Lower Oder Valley National Park has great fears that the effects will be so huge that they will last for years, Hoppe said on rbb Inforadio on Saturday. “For us, this poisoning situation that has now built up in the Oder is an environmental disaster of unprecedented proportions.” Tourism, as well as grazing and fishing, are also severely affected.
On Saturday, an action to collect the carcasses began in Schwedt an der Oder. The emergency services are equipped with protective suits, said Hoppe in the rbb info radio. It can be assumed that there are substances that are hazardous to human health.
The Lower Oder Valley National Park near Schwedt in the Uckermark was founded more than 25 years ago and is Germany’s only floodplain national park. The area on the German-Polish border is 50 kilometers long and covers an area of more than 10,000 hectares. It stretches along the western edge of the Oder from Hohensaaten in the south to Staffelde in the north. Waterfowl and other migratory birds use the area as a resting place.
Fish kills in the Oder could spread to the Baltic Sea
The Ministry of the Environment in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania expects the effects of the fish kill in the Oder on the Szczecin Lagoon. It is to be expected that the loads will already reach the mouth of the Oder near Szczecin (Poland) in the evening, depending on wind and current conditions, the ministry wrote in a statement late on Friday evening. In the course of Saturday, the Western Pomeranian part of the Szczecin Lagoon could also be affected.
As a precaution, the Ministry of Till Backhaus (SPD) therefore called on residents to refrain from fishing in the water and taking water from it – regardless of use. The responsible authorities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are currently preparing water and fish samples.
Poland: “We want to find the culprit”
The cause of mass fish deaths along the Oder is not yet clear. Previous laboratory analyzes did not bring any precise information about the pollution of the water and the causes. Since the cause of the environmental disaster is suspected to be in Poland, accusations have already been made in Germany that the neighboring country did not provide information in good time and did not follow the usual reporting chain for such events.
Because of the fish kill, Poland has offered a hefty reward for information leading to the arrest of a perpetrator. The police have offered a sum of the equivalent of 210,000 euros, said Deputy Interior Minister Marcin Wasik on Saturday in Gorzow Wielkopolski. “We want to find the culprits and punish the perpetrators of the environmental crime that is probably at stake here,” emphasized Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Poland’s government and authorities are under pressure because they have reacted too hesitantly to the fish kill. On Friday evening, Morawiecki had therefore dismissed the head of the water authority and the head of the environmental authority. He does not rule out further personnel consequences, said the head of government. Morawiecki admitted that he only found out about the massive fish kill on August 10th. “I was definitely informed too late.”