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Cause of fish deaths still unclear: EU offers help

2022-08-16T15:36:02.767Z


Cause of fish deaths still unclear: EU offers help Created: 08/16/2022Updated: 08/16/2022 5:21 p.m Dead fish have collected on the surface of the water in the German-Polish border river Westoder. © Patrick Pleul/dpa The extent of fish deaths in the Oder is becoming increasingly clear. However, previous studies have not been able to determine the exact cause. Now the EU Commission has also gotte


Cause of fish deaths still unclear: EU offers help

Created: 08/16/2022Updated: 08/16/2022 5:21 p.m

Dead fish have collected on the surface of the water in the German-Polish border river Westoder.

© Patrick Pleul/dpa

The extent of fish deaths in the Oder is becoming increasingly clear.

However, previous studies have not been able to determine the exact cause.

Now the EU Commission has also gotten involved.

Frankfurt – A week after the discovery of thousands of dead fish in the Oder, the cause of the mass deaths is still unclear.

The EU Commission has meanwhile offered the authorities in Germany and Poland support in the investigations.

"We are ready to help with any means in terms of expertise and information exchange with other countries in order to find answers and solutions," said a Commission spokeswoman in Brussels on Tuesday.

One is in contact with the authorities of both countries.

In the afternoon, Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius spoke to Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens).

One must recognize contamination as early as possible and also better and react in a coordinated manner to transnational cases, he wrote on Twitter afterwards.

Sinkevičius also spoke to Polish Environment Minister Anna Moskwa on the phone, a spokesman said.

The Brandenburg State Environment Agency has meanwhile evaluated the first laboratory results.

The results transmitted on Monday evening by the Berlin-Brandenburg state laboratory in a first tranche did not show particularly high values ​​for metals such as mercury, the ministry said on Tuesday.

A single cause for the environmental catastrophe cannot be identified.

The website of the State Environment Agency shows that the values ​​in the river changed dramatically from August 7th.

The oxygen content, the pH value, the turbidity and other values ​​suddenly went up, while the amount of nitrate nitrogen dropped significantly.

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 a smaller river that has no connection to the Oder.

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, 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.

The tourism industry in the Haff region in eastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is concerned about the death of fish.

"It's still a situation in which a lot is unclear," said the managing director of the state tourism association, Tobias Woitendorf.

As a precaution, the state government in Schwerin advises against bathing in the Szczecin Lagoon.

Health risks have not yet been ruled out.

Authorities have also advised against angling, fishing and water abstraction.

dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-08-16

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