Fish deaths: Lemke warns of an environmental disaster

Created: 08/12/2022, 16:40

Many dead fish are floating in the water of the German-Polish border river Oder.

© Patrick Pleul/dpa

Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) warns of an impending environmental catastrophe in view of the massive fish kill in the Oder.

"The death of fish in the Oder shocks and worries me a lot," the Greens politician told the editorial network Germany (RND) on Friday.

"An environmental catastrophe is looming here." So far, the cause was still unclear, explained the minister - and at the same time emphasized that it was important to clarify the events "completely".

Berlin - "At the moment, many sides are working flat out to clarify the reasons for the mass deaths of fish and thus to keep potential further consequential damage as low as possible," said Lemke.

The background is a massive fish kill in the Oder, which has been worrying people in Brandenburg on the border with Poland for days.

Thousands of dead fish were discovered in the river, some of them near the city of Frankfurt (Oder) and surrounding towns.

According to the Polish water authority, ten tons of dead fish have been recovered.

The exact cause of the mass extinction is still unknown.

A combination of several factors such as heat, low water supply and toxins is possible, said Brandenburg Environment Minister Axel Vogel (Greens) on Friday.

Federal Environment Minister Lemke promised support to the Brandenburg authorities responsible for processing on the German side.

According to their own statements, their ministry also exchanges information with the Polish authorities.

Criticism had recently increased in their handling of the events.

For example, Brandenburg's Environment Minister Vogel had previously complained about the lack of information on fish deaths in Poland.

Dead fish were found there at the end of July and water samples were taken for the first time.

A spokesman for the Federal Environment Ministry also said on Friday that the reporting chains usual for such events had failed.

The report only arrived this Thursday, "which should have come from the Polish side," said the spokesman.

But the pollution on the German side was already known.

dpa