Fish deaths in the Oder: Now masses of dead snails have also been discovered
Created: 2022-08-25Updated: 2022-08-25 07:55
By: Bettina Menzel, Stefanie Fischhaber, Martina Lippl, Fabian Müller
Fish deaths on the Oder: Hundreds of tons of dead fish, like a dead lead in the photo here, have already been recovered.
© Patrick Pleul/dpa
Thousands of fish died in the Oder.
German laboratories continue to research the cause of the fish deaths.
The environmental damage is massive.
The news ticker.
Or disaster
due to
algae poison
: Experts see no direct danger to birds and mammals
"Fake News"
-
accusation
from
Poland
: Germany counters in connection with fish deaths
Fish deaths
in the
Oder
: the authorities consider several causes to be possible
Environmental disaster
on the
Oder
: Poland boosts oxygen supply in the water with pumps in West Pomerania
This news ticker about fish kills in the Oder is updated regularly.
Update from August 25, 7:04 a.m
.: First dead fish, now huge carpets of dead water snails can be observed near the shore, and many mussels are floating on the water surface, reports the dpa news agency, citing Dirk Treichel, head of the Lower Oder Valley National Park.
Or disaster due to algae poison: Experts see no direct danger to birds and mammals
"According to current knowledge, only cold-blooded animal species are affected, such as fish, mussels and snails," said Dirk Treichel.
The so-called cold-blooded animals include fish, amphibians and reptiles, but not birds and mammals.
According to the expert, the massive fish kill in the Oder does not mean any direct danger to many land animals.
"In similar disasters, it was not reported that warm-blooded animals were also affected," says Christian Wolter from the Berlin Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB).
According to Wolter, there have already been various other cases of mass fish deaths worldwide due to the algae poison found in the Oder.
Algae poison in the Oder water
An algae toxin was detected in the water samples from the Oder.
It is the poison of a species of algae (probably
Prymnesium parvum)
that only occurs in brackish water and in water with an increased salt content.
According to the IGB, unnatural, massively increased salt loads have been measured for around two weeks at the official measuring level of the State Office for the Environment in Frankfurt an der Oder.
They should have originated upstream.
The mass growth of the algae also resulted in significantly increased measured values for oxygen, pH and chlorophyll.
The algal toxin (Prymnesium toxins) attacks and breaks down the mucous membranes and fine blood vessels of gill breathers such as fish, mollusks, mussels and amphibians.
After the environmental disaster on the Oder: Experts call for a "cure" for the river
Update from August 23, 4:51 p.m .:
After the environmental disaster in the Oder, according to the head of the Lower Oder Valley National Park, Dirk Treichel, the resilience of the Oder must be strengthened.
"We need a cure for the Oder," said Treichel on Tuesday at the environmental committee of the state parliament in Potsdam.
Everything must be done to minimize the stress on the ecosystem.
According to Treichel, this included the prevention of water discharges and water engineering measures.
There are already many ideas for active action to enable the river to recover, such as creating flood channels and connecting tributaries or backwaters of the Oder.
It is also important to continue to revitalize the floodplains as natural flood protection areas.
Update from August 23,
6:13 a.m .: 200 tons of fish carcasses were collected in Poland and Germany by Saturday.
The dead fish must be disposed of safely, according to the state of Brandenburg.
The fish kill continues to be a mystery.
On Tuesday, the environmental committee in the Brandenburg state parliament will meet for a special session (2 p.m.).
The State Ministry for the Environment in Potsdam reports on the findings so far.
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"Fake News" accusation from Poland: Germany counters in connection with fish deaths
Update from August 22, 2:13 p.m
.: The federal government has rejected Polish allegations in connection with the death of fish in the Oder.
"We regret that this assessment came from Poland," said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry for the Environment on Monday in Berlin, referring to the accusation from Warsaw that Germany was spreading "fake news".
The search for the causes of the fish kill in the Oder is still not complete.
“But no one in Germany and at no time claimed that the pesticides alone were the cause of the fish kills.
It is regrettable that the Polish Ministry of the Environment now understood the corresponding laboratory results as a way of assigning blame.” The German-Polish expert group that had been deployed met for the first time this Monday.
It is hoped that a "possible disagreement" will be cleared up when the laboratory results are presented and discussed there.
There are now several organic and inorganic substances that could be responsible, the spokesman said.
“It really seems to be a chemical cocktail.
According to our current knowledge, none of these substances alone caused the fish to die.” It could be a “multi-causal event”.
Fish deaths in the Oder: the authorities consider several causes to be possible
Update from August 22, 1:17 p.m
.: The death of fish in the Oder is an environmental disaster.
The entire ecosystem on the Oder - mussels, molluscs (mollusks), algae and bacteria - are affected.
A lot is still unclear at first.
The consequences are not yet foreseeable.
Water samples are still being examined in laboratories, but a lot of time has already passed.
In Brandenburg, the State Office for the Environment (LfU) said it received the first indications of environmental pollution on August 9, 2022.
A skipper had reported on the fish kill and therefore contacted the Berlin-Brandenburg State Laboratory (LLBB).
According to the authority, there may be several causes for the death of fish and species - as of August 22, 2022. Analyzes have therefore initially shown the following:
Excessive pesticide values with the active ingredient 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid have been found (20 August).
Poisonous brackish water algae: Research teams have been able to prove algae poison.
Satellite data confirms massive algal bloom (20 August).
Increased salt loads and an associated strong algal bloom were determined.
Mercury levels were within or slightly above the environmental quality standard.
Update from August 21, 7:49 p.m .: Research
into the causes of fish deaths in the Oder continues to be difficult.
The Federal Environment Ministry said the results of the current water sample tests are expected by the end of August.
Accordingly, investigations are being carried out in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The environmental disaster should also be on the agenda of the German-Polish environmental council on August 29, 2022 in Bad Saarow.
It is already known that mercury is not the trigger.
"The latest results of the IGB and the University of Vienna confirm the suspicion that there was a mass development of toxic brackish water algae in the Oder, which could be responsible for the fish kills," according to the German Ministry of the Environment.
The fish kill could also have been caused by a combination of several factors.
Fish death on the Oder river: A dead lead lies in the shallow water of the German-Polish border river Oder in the early morning.
© Patrick Pleul/dpa
Environmental disaster on the Oder: Poland boosts the oxygen supply in the water with pumps in West Pomerania
Meanwhile, Poland is apparently working on boosting the oxygen supply to the fish in the river.
This was announced by the head of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Zbiegniew Bogucki, on Twitter on Sunday evening.
There are already 17 pumps in the water for this purpose, and two more are to follow on Sunday.
On Saturday, Bogucki had already said that many fish would swim to the surface due to the lack of oxygen in the water and would be on the verge of suffocation.
The politician posted a corresponding video.
But at the same time he also gave hope: "Where we salvaged tons of dead fish a few days ago, living fish have now been sighted," Bogucki wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
Extent of the environmental disaster in the Oder: 200 tons of dead fish collected
The reasons for the massive fish deaths in the Oder are still unclear.
© Patrick Pleul/dpa
Update from August 21, 3:35 p.m .:
The cause of the environmental disaster remains unclear on Sunday.
But the extent is becoming increasingly clear: by Saturday around 200 tons of dead fish had been collected in Poland and Germany.
The Polish fire brigade put the amount on Saturday at 158 tons.
According to the Ministry of the Interior in Warsaw, more than 3,000 firefighters, more than 2,000 police officers and 1,300 soldiers were involved in salvaging the carcasses in Poland.
Brandenburg had already reported at least 36 tons of dead fish in an earlier statement from the Ministry of the Environment.
Environmental disaster in the Oder: Poisoned river killed endangered sturgeons
Update from August 21, 2:55 p.m .:
According to the WWF, the ecological disaster in the Oder has had an enormous impact on the resettlement of the sturgeon in the areas.
The fish, which are threatened with extinction, are being resettled in Germany in the Elbe and in the Oder to preserve their species.
Due to the poisonous wave in the Oder, 20,000 young sturgeons died in a breeding facility of the Institute for Aquatic Ecology and Inland Fisheries, as the WWF reported on Sunday in Berlin.
"The dead young sturgeons are only a small part of the environmental drama," explained Finn Viehberg from WWF Germany.
However, they symbolized "how human carelessness leads to the loss of nature and biodiversity".
It must now be checked whether the food supply for the surviving or returning sturgeons is sufficient after the mass death of fish.
Poland's government accuses Germany of "fake news".
First report from August 21
: Warsaw/Frankfurt - The cause of the massive fish kill in the Oder is still not known.
More than 36 tons of dead fish have now been pulled out of the Oder in Germany alone.
The Berlin-Brandenburg state laboratory has now found elevated levels of pesticides in the Oder.
The Polish government therefore speaks of false reports from Germany.
Fish deaths in the Oder: Poland contradicts findings from Germany
On Saturday (August 20), the Brandenburg Environment Ministry announced that high concentrations of a pesticide containing the active ingredient 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid had been found in the Oder.
The active ingredient is used, for example, to combat weeds.
However, the detected dose is not directly lethal to the fish.
The Ministry of the Environment continues to assume that there are several causes for the environmental disaster.
Poland's government contradicts these findings and accused Germany of spreading fake news.
"Attention, another fake news is being spread in Germany!!!
pesticides and herbicides.
In Poland, the substance was tested and found to be below the limit of quantification, ie with no effects on fish or other animals and no link to fish kills,” Poland's Environment Minister Anna Moskwa wrote on Twitter on Saturday evening.
Poland criticizes Germany: "Unjustified attack on agriculture"
The substances were not detected in fish, Moskva said in another tweet, "An unjustified attack on agriculture.
First industry, now agriculture?
What's next?” Poland's national conservative PiS government is not only under pressure domestically because Polish authorities were hesitant to react to the first indications of the fish kill.
Criticism also came from Germany that Polish authorities had not complied with the internationally agreed information chains.
Representatives of the PiS repeatedly responded with anti-German tones - and with attacks on the Polish opposition.
(sf/dpa)