The drought summer claims victims: the fish are suffocating at the Berger See in the municipality of Steinhöring.
Community and experts can only watch.
Steinhöring
– The Berger See near Steinhöring has disappeared.
The drought of the last few weeks has allowed it to silt up.
Where a glistening expanse of water used to attract birds, amphibians, dragonflies, dog walkers and the occasional angler, all that is left is a cracked, gray and bone-dry lake bed.
Bad for nature under water.
There is no help in sight - unless heavy rain falls soon.
In the last few days, many fish have died in the pond that remained in the middle due to a lack of oxygen.
+
Due to the lack of oxygen, the fish suffocate.
There is no help for the animals.
© Johannes Dziemballa
The owner family Abinger has no choice but to collect the carcasses.
It was already two cubic meters by Wednesday afternoon.
“They will go to the animal body recycling tomorrow,” says old farmer Martin Abinger.
Splayed gill covers show: the fish have been suffocated
Retrieving the fish is not an easy task.
The family and their helpers use two small inflatable boats.
A tractor with a large front loader shovel is parked on the shore.
The dead fish are placed in them.
The animals are suffocated, which can be seen from their spread gill covers.
Driving the tractor into the lake to make your work easier is completely impossible because of the muddy ground, says Abinger.
It's a shame about the beautiful carp, he regrets the accident and hopes that "at least a few tench" will survive.
The oxygen requirements of this fish species are so low that they can "even survive in the mud".
Also for the pond mussels any help comes too late
Any help would come too late for the pond mussels caught in the dry lake bed.
You cannot simply move them to another body of water, at least that would have to be clarified with the respective fishing rights holder.
This is to prevent germs and parasites from being transported from one body of water to another.
A few years ago, the Berger See was almost completely silted up.
According to Abinger, the pond mussel stocks have nevertheless recovered.
"The stream above," says Abinger about the only inlet to the lake, "is almost dry.
And no more water runs in from the drains either.
It's never been as bad as this year."
Only a pond remains of the lake
The lake normally has an area of four hectares, now there is only a small fraction of that in which the creatures can retreat.
As a result, the water becomes too warm, the oxygen content drops dramatically and even resistant fish species ultimately die.
+
The lake normally has an area of four hectares, now there is only a small fraction left.
© J.Dziemballa
In the Steinhöring town hall, the phone of Mayor Martina Lietsch kept ringing these days.
Excited walkers told her about the fish death that was happening before their eyes.
Lietsch turned to Josef Noder, the chairman of the district fishing association in Ebersberg, for help.
"If we go in there, we'll whirl up the mud even more," says Noder about a possible salvage operation.
"It's counterproductive.
It's bad when you have to look at it like that.
But we don't stand a chance.
That is nature.”
You can find more current news from the district of Ebersberg at Merkur.de/Ebersberg.
The chairman fears: "This will not be the last time that the lake silts up." In his opinion, only a higher fresh water supply could provide permanent relief.
"There is currently a lack of water everywhere," says Noder.
"Also at Steinsee".
"We have checked whether there isn't any way to help," reports Lietsch.
An oxygen pump was also discussed.
But she also stirs up mud, says Noder.
"The remaining water is simply too warm," confirms Lietsch.
Filling up the lake with drinking water from the municipal supply is also not an option that could be seriously considered in the current situation.
"That simply does not work."
bersberg newsletter: Everything from your region!
Our Ebersberg newsletter informs you regularly about all the important stories from the Ebersberg region - including all the news about the Corona crisis in your community.
Sign up here.