River filled with dead fish flowing through Poland and Germany – Great concern

Thousands dead fish float on Oder Riverwhich leaks the Germany and Polandcreating fears of an environmental “catastrophe”, while the local population is urged to stay away from its waters.

The dead fish, which appeared on the surface of the river near the German town of Swett, were probably brought there by the current from Poland, where the first such cases had already been reported by local residents and fishermen on July 28.

German officials, who were surprised by the mass appearance of the dead fish, accused the Polish authorities of not informing them.

In Poland, too, the right-wing populist government is under fire for not reacting sooner.

THE Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki he tried yesterday, Friday, to justify himself: “at first we all thought it was just a local problem,” he said on his weekly podcast.

“The scale of the pollution is very large, large enough to say that Oder will take years to return to its natural state,” he admitted though.

“Huge amounts of chemical waste were probably dumped into the river, with full knowledge of the danger and consequences,” he added.

THE German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke demanded for its part that an exhaustive investigation be conducted to determine the causes of this “environmental catastrophe”.

“Deeply shocked”

Standing on the shore, o Michel Toutenhan, deputy director of the Lower Oder Valley National Park, looks down at the river, which forms the German-Polish border.

“We are on the German side. We have dead fish everywhere.” he tells AFP.

“I am deeply shocked… I have the impression that I am seeing the destruction of decades of work (…) Water is our life”, he says, adding that many other aquatic animals, such as mussels, have died.

The fish “are only the tip of the iceberg,” he assures.

The Oder is a river that for many years has been considered relatively clean and welcoming around 40 species of fish.

Many of them – some a few centimeters long, others almost 40 centimeters – are now floating dead in the river. Sometimes you see some trying hard to turn around to swim.

“Unusual” death

The authorities estimate that the fish were probably poisoned.

Their death is “unusual”, explains o Axel Vogel, Minister of the Environment of the state of Brandenburg, saying that “tonnes” of fish have undoubtedly already been lost.

Fish kills are often caused by imbalanced oxygen levels when the water level is too low, he explains.

“But for days now we have noticed an increase in the level of oxygen, which indicates that a foreign substance has entered the water and caused all this,” according to him.

Tests are being carried out in Germany to determine the nature of this substance. Authorities have reported evidence of extremely high levels of mercury, which research will have to confirm or deny.

In Poland, the prosecutor’s office is dealing with the Oder pollution case, while outrage is growing in the country. The opposition, local authorities and environmental groups demanded an explanation from the government, some even calling for the resignation of officials in the climate ministry, including a deputy minister who until yesterday, Thursday, encouraged people to go swimming in the Oder.

“This is like Chernobyl, when, after the disaster, the Soviet government had sent people to participate in the May Day parade,” he says activist environmentalist Daniel Petrichiewicz; on the private TV station TVN24.

On the banks of the Oder in Germany, Tautenhan expresses concern about the future. “If it’s mercury, it will stay there for a long time,” he says, recalling that this metal does not decompose and can remain for many years in the river sediment.

RES-EMP

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