Search for triggers for fish kills: indication of toxin

Created: 2022-08-11Updated: 2022-08-11, 8:07 p.m

Dead fish swim in the Oder near Brieskow-Finkenheerd.

© Frank Hammerschmidt/dpa

The images are disturbing: many dead fish are floating on the banks of the Oder.

Now there are first indications of a toxic substance.

But the search for the cause continues - and political disputes.

According to the Brandenburg Ministry of the Environment, the first indications of a highly toxic substance were found during the investigation of fish deaths in the Oder.

The Polish Environmental Protection Agency reported on Thursday that the trigger is probably industrial pollution.

The full extent of the massive fish kill along the river was still unclear.

Brandenburg's Environment Minister Axel Vogel (Greens) criticized the lack of information from the Polish authorities and asked for clarification.

"It has to be said that the reporting chains between the Polish and German sides did not work in this case," he said.

The State Criminal Police Office (LKA) is now also investigating the fish kill.

Authorities evaluated samples.

According to the ministry in Potsdam, there should be further results on Friday.

Official warnings to avoid contact with the water from the Oder remained in place.

The Brandenburg Ministry of the Environment then announced late Thursday afternoon that it was becoming apparent that an as yet unknown, highly toxic substance was flowing through the Oder.

The first analysis results consistently showed that a strong wave of organic substances went through Frankfurt an der Oder a few days ago and has since continued downstream, currently to Schwedt.

Effects on the ecosystem suggested synthetic chemicals, most likely also toxic to vertebrates.

Deputy head of Poland's Environmental Protection Agency, Magda Gosk, said: "Everything indicates that the pollution of the Oder River, which has caused the death of numerous fish, could be of industrial origin." what the condition of the river is.

They are investigating what substance it is and "above all, who introduced this substance where into the Oder," Gosk said.

According to the Brandenburg authorities, there is still no overall overview of the number of dead fish in Poland and Germany.

The head of the Polish water authority, Przemyslaw Daca, said on Thursday that employees of his authority, anglers and volunteers had recovered a total of ten tons of dead fish.

"This shows that we are dealing with a gigantic and appalling environmental catastrophe."

The death of fish in the Oder, which is currently running at low water, has been worrying people in Brandenburg on the border with Poland for days.

Master fisherman Henry Schneider from the Oder-Spree district said: "We have never experienced anything like it.

Dead fish are everywhere.

There are many.” The managing director of the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland, Antje von Brook, criticized: “This ecological catastrophe would not be of such magnitude if German and Polish authorities had worked together more intensively.” A comprehensive political reappraisal is necessary.

The Brandenburg State Office for the Environment announced that it had not received any official notification from the Polish side.

But even in Poland itself there are accusations that the population has not been warned not to eat fish from the Oder and not to bathe in the river.

Dead fish were found in Poland at the end of July and water samples were taken.

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Meanwhile, the disposal of the carcasses on the banks of the Oder is to be prepared.

This was announced by the Märkisch-Oderland district on Thursday.

Birds and snakes feeding on carrion will be attracted, a spokesman said.

However, the population should not collect carcasses themselves, the disposal should be coordinated.

In Poland, the television station TVN24 showed pictures of volunteers collecting dead fish from the river on Thursday.

One of the helpers complained that after coming into contact with the water, he developed reddish skin irritation on his hands.

The helpers should get support from the Polish army in their work.

In Brandenburg, in addition to the city of Frankfurt (Oder) and the district of Märkisch-Oderland, the districts of Oder-Spree, Uckermark and Barnim also called for direct contact with the water of the Oder and associated bodies of water to be avoided.

With the fish dying, bathing fun on the Oder is taboo.

The river bathing area in Schwedt, for example, was closed as a precaution.

The warnings for the population against contact with the water also came via official warning apps.

dpa