Fish kills in the Oder
Hundreds of tons of dead fish recovered – contaminated water masses flow in the direction of Szczecin
In Schwedt, Brandenburg, an employee from the Lower Oder Valley National Park collects dead fish from the German-Polish border river Westoder, near the branch from the main river Oder
What kills the fish in the Oder? That remains a mystery. The Polish fire brigade recovered a huge mass of dead animals – and the fish don’t just die in the Oder.
Masses of fish are dying in the Oder – but a good week after the discovery of thousands of dead animals in the river, the Polish and German authorities are still searching for the cause of the environmental disaster. According to their own statements, the Polish fire brigade has so far recovered almost a hundred tons of dead fish from the border river and the smaller river Ner. A total of 97.95 tons, said the spokeswoman for the fire brigade headquarters in Warsaw on Tuesday. The majority of this is accounted for by the dead fish from the Oder.
The Ner is a small river that rises south of Lodz and flows into the Warta. He has no connection to the Oder. Dead fish have also been discovered in the Ner for a few days. The cause of the fish deaths there is unknown – as is the case for the natural disaster in the Oder.
Fish kills in the Oder spread to canals south of Szczecin
In Brandenburg, too, helpers collected the fish carcasses on the Oder. The dead animals are destroyed in special incinerators. There was no information about the quantities collected in Germany.
According to Polish authorities, dead fish have also been found south of the port city of Szczecin in canals connected to the Oder. This means that the contaminated water masses are moving towards Szczecin, said the head of the regional administration for the West Pomeranian Voivodeship (administrative district), Zbigniew Bogucki, on Tuesday.
North of Szczecin lies the Szczecin Lagoon. The Oder flows into the lagoon, which at around 900 square kilometers is about twice the size of Lake Constance. Two thirds of it belongs to Poland. Water connections to the Baltic Sea run from there.
Mercury levels unremarkable
In the meantime, the Brandenburg State Environment Agency has evaluated the first laboratory results in search of the cause of the fish kill. The spokesman for the Ministry of the Environment, Sebastian Arnold, said on Tuesday that there were no particularly high values for metals such as mercury. A single cause for the environmental catastrophe cannot be identified.
“Furthermore, high salt loads and a high oxygen content are found,” said Arnold. The state laboratory examines further water samples from different days and measuring points as well as fish. The data would be continuously transmitted and evaluated.
Arnold explained that water samples on the Brandenburg side would be taken regularly at the automatic measuring station in Frankfurt (Oder). Samples are taken at regular intervals 1.5 meters below the surface of the water and are usually analyzed for values such as water temperature, pH or oxygen content. Now the samples in the state laboratory would be examined for numerous other values and toxins.
The website of the State Environment Agency always shows the results of the past 31 days: it shows that the values in the river changed drastically from Sunday last week. The oxygen content, the pH value, the turbidity and other values suddenly went up, while the amount of nitrate nitrogen dropped significantly. The first reports of fish deaths in the Oder appeared on Tuesday.
Watch the video: Thousands of fish have died on both the Polish and the German side of the Oder. The cause is still unclear. The authorities assume that the animals fell victim to poisonous substances.