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Fish deaths in the Oder: Baerbock with a clear demand for Poland: "Consequences affect us all"

2022-09-04T03:41:05.253Z


Fish deaths in the Oder: Baerbock with a clear demand for Poland: "Consequences affect us all" Created: 2022-09-04 05:03 By: Yasina Hipp, Martina Lippl The search for the cause of the fish kill in the Oder continues. Researchers are sticking to the theory of the poisonous algae. The news ticker. Fish deaths in the Oder: satellite images show massive blooms of algae as early as the beginning of


Fish deaths in the Oder: Baerbock with a clear demand for Poland: "Consequences affect us all"

Created: 2022-09-04 05:03

By: Yasina Hipp, Martina Lippl

The search for the cause of the fish kill in the Oder continues.

Researchers are sticking to the theory of the poisonous algae.

The news ticker.

  • Fish deaths in the Oder: satellite images show massive blooms of algae as early as the beginning of August

  • Baerbock sends a clear demand to Poland: "We have to talk to each other more"

  • 300 tons of fish carcasses from the Oder: Hundreds of chemical substances are possible.

  • This news ticker about fish kills in the Oder is updated regularly.

Update from September 1st, 7:01 p.m .:

The Oder seems to be recovering after the mass death of fish.

During sampling in a section in Brieskow-Finkenheerd near Frankfurt/Oder, 19 healthy fish species were detected.

This was reported by the scientist at the Institute for Inland Fisheries in Potsdam-Sacrow, Daniel Hühn.

The more than 1,800 fish caught included everything from juvenile fish to perennial fish.

The institute in Potsdam conducts research, among other things, on fish ecology in inland waters.

Baerbock makes a clear request to Poland: "Consequences affect us all"

Update from September 1, 5:57 p.m .:

Annalena Bearbock would like better cooperation with Poland in the case of the mysterious death of fish in the Oder.

“Water knows no borders and the consequences affect us all.

That's why it's crucial for me personally that we, in Germany and in Poland, discuss the Oder together - not without or even against each other," said the Foreign Minister in Reitwein on Thursday.

In the municipality on the Oder, the Greens politician got an idea of ​​the current situation on the river in her function as a Brandenburg member of the Bundestag.

The cooperation with Poland affects all questions: the clarification of the fish kill, but also questions of further use and the development of the Oder.

"We need to talk to each other more, not less," Baerbock affirmed.

Fish deaths in the Oder: satellite images show massive blooms of algae as early as the beginning of August

Update from September 1st, 2:18 p.m

.: After the fish died in the Oder, the search for the cause continues.

One phenomenon of the environmental catastrophe could even be seen from space: a massive bloom of algae in the Oder.

New evaluations of the data show that the values ​​had already been elevated on July 19th and 20th.

There was a spike on August 3-4, 2022.

This was announced by the Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) on Thursday (September 1st).

Within a week, the algal bloom spread across the entire Oder by August 10th and 11th.

Only at the end of August did the algae bloom return to the average level of early July.

According to the researchers, it is not yet possible to conclusively assess whether the algal blooms in July and August are directly related to the fish kill. 

According to the IGB experts, the toxic alga is responsible for the mass death of fish.

Actually, the algae species

Prymnesium parvum

can only be found in brackish water.

The immense growth of the plant was only possible due to a high concentration of salt in the river water.

But where does the salt come from?

Fish deaths in the Oder: satellite images show massive blooms of algae in late July and early August.

© Brockmann Consult/IGB

The chlorophyll concentrations in the Oder served the researchers as an indicator of the algal bloom.

The analysis is based on data from the Copernicus satellite called "Satellite Sentinel 2", which is equipped with optical sensors.

Oder-Fischmorgen: "The current crisis situation is over"

Update from August 31, 4:17 p.m .:

After the mysterious death of fish in the Oder, Brandenburg has now given the all-clear again.

"The acute crisis is over," said Environment Minister Axel Vogel (Greens) on Wednesday in the Environment Committee of the Brandenburg State Parliament in Potsdam.

The values ​​for oxygen and chlorophyll are declining and developing towards the normal values.

"We haven't recorded any dead fish for a few days now."

According to Vogel, daphnia - small water crustaceans that were used as a control - are no longer dying either.

This is also an indicator of relaxation in many places.

However, the exact cause has still not been finally clarified.

Fish deaths in the Oder near Brandenburg: Several causes responsible?

Since the beginning of August, tons of dead fish have been recovered from the German-Polish border river.

According to Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens), hundreds of chemical substances could be contributors to the environmental catastrophe.

Experts assume that high salinity in the river is a major reason, combined with low water, high temperatures and a toxic species of algae.

A final report by an expert group on the causes should be available by the end of September.

Sunrise on the German-Polish border river Oder: The death of fish continues to be a mystery.

The only positive news: After only a few years, the population may have recovered.

© Patrick Pleul/dpa

Update from August 30, 6:16 a.m

.: The mass death of fish in the Oder was observed in Brandenburg on August 9, 2022.

A ship's captain spotted dead fish in the river and reported this to the Oder-Havel Waterways and Shipping Office.

The cause is initially unclear.

Many factors could play a role.

One thing is certain: the Oder fish kill is an environmental catastrophe.

The entire ecosystem on the Oder - mussels, mollusks (mollusks), algae and bacteria - is affected.

10,000 young Baltic sturgeons in two reintroduction elevators have died or been damaged.

Poland is currently trying to boost the oxygen supply in the river with pumps and stop the fish kill.

Apparently with success, as the TV broadcaster TVP3 reports.

The situation in the Oder has improved significantly.

Fish would no longer die from the oxygen.

Most recently it was only 300 kilograms instead of up to 28 tons a day.

Or fish kills: does the death from dead fish on the river bottom continue?

But the carcasses on the river bottom could now also be responsible for further fish deaths, explains the Polish water management engineer Piotr Parasiewicz in the rbb.

“We have a lot of carcasses on the river bottom – not just fish, but other organisms – that are being broken down.

We have fermentation processes that consume oxygen," says Parasiewicz.

That's why the oxygen-poor water would come down, along with all the nutrients.

“As a result, we have something like liquid manure that flows down here.

And it will continue to lead to fish deaths,” warns the water management engineer.

"We're doing everything we can to hold it back, but it's very difficult."

Fish deaths in the Oder: Hundreds of chemicals are possible

Update from August 29, 3:30 p.m.:

“Heat, low water levels and man-made discharges” were the causes of the fish deaths in the Oder, according to Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke.

At the German-Polish meeting in Bad Saarow, the Greens politician said that several hundred chemical substances could come into question.

However, more precise statements about the type of chemical discharges could only be made after the expert report was available.

This should be available by September 30 at the latest.

Fish deaths on the Oder: 300 tons of dead fish (photo from August 16) have been collected in Brandenburg and Poland.

© Christian Thiel/imago

 "Of course it's a strenuous discussion on such a difficult topic," Lemke said on the sidelines of the meeting with her Polish counterpart Moskva.

At the beginning of the disaster, the Polish side was accused of a sluggish flow of information.

In the meantime, however, both sides have agreed that the species population in the Oder should be renewed, as confirmed by Anna Moskwa.

Environmental disaster on the Oder: Riddles about the cause of fish deaths

First report from August 29th

Bad Saarow – The pictures from the German-Polish border are shocking.

Ton after ton of dead fish have been recovered from the Oder for days.

Up until a few days ago, that was around 300 tons of fish carcasses on both sides of the river.

And the exact cause of the environmental catastrophe is still not clear.

Experts suspect that a high salt content in the Oder is a key reason why a toxic species of algae was able to grow strongly.

Combined with low water and the currently persistent high temperatures, these factors could be the trigger for the mass death of fish.

Poland wants to present the first laboratory results from the Oder

Against the background of the natural disaster, a meeting of the German-Polish environmental council is now taking place in Bad Saarow, Brandenburg.

According to Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, the aim is to clarify the causes of the fish kill.

The Greens politician also wants to ensure "that such a catastrophe cannot happen again".

Lemke and Axel Vogel, Brandenburg's Environment Ministers, also hope to be able to engage in an intensive exchange and lay the foundation for bilateral cooperation for the future of the Oder.

200 tons of dead fish have already been recovered from the Oder.

© Patrick Pleul/dpa

Poland's Environment Minister Anna Moskwa would even like to present the first water test results from various laboratories.

The main focus is on the salt input.

Axel Vogel says: "To this day we don't know how it got into the Oder and in what quantity."

Poland insists on expanding the Oder - Germany is against it

Another point is causing discussions: the expansion of the river, which is being pushed above all by the Polish side.

Federal Environment Minister Lemke is in favor of stopping the expansion: "Against this background, in my opinion, the expansion of the Border Oder is extremely problematic and must now be stopped." In view of the climate crisis and its effects, she calls for a different scope with the resource water.

Axel Vogel emphasizes the same thing.

His country appealed against the Polish environmental assessment report, which was rejected.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-09-04

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