Dramatic fish kills: Experts fear a second Or disaster
Created: 12/31/2022, 7:52 p.m
By: Stefanie Fischhaber
Experts fear that the fish death in the Oder in August 2022 could repeat itself.
(Archive image) © Patrick Pleul/ dpa
The death of fish in the Oder in August 2022 was a tragedy.
But according to experts, this could happen again next year if politicians don't act.
Frankfurt an der Oder - In August 2022, large numbers of fish died in the Oder.
It is said to have been around 350 tons of carcasses.
Poland and Germany blamed each other.
The cause has still not been finally clarified.
The mood of alarm in the border area is not over even after months.
Experts fear that the drama could repeat itself a year later.
Fish deaths in the Oder: "There can be no question of recovery"
In August, a floodplain landscape unique in Germany, the Lower Oder Valley National Park in the Brandenburg Uckermark, became the scene of a tragedy.
The cross-border protection area is considered a paradise for waterfowl as a breeding, resting and wintering place.
But there is great concern that the fish kill will also have consequences for white-tailed eagles, cormorants, otters and kingfishers and that biodiversity is threatened.
"There can definitely be no talk of a recovery of the Oder," sums up the Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB).
The man-made environmental catastrophe has drastically reduced fish stocks across all species.
The main source of conflict is the expansion of the river, which the neighboring country wants to push ahead to the annoyance of German environmental politicians.
In court in Warsaw, environmentalists have now stopped construction work on the banks of the Oder for the time being.
Experts fear that fish die-offs could repeat themselves
“Now there is still the opportunity to take appropriate precautions.
But the time window is getting narrower and narrower,” says the mayor of Frankfurt (Oder), René Wilke (left).
In his region and especially in the species-rich Lower Oder Valley Nature Park, there is great concern.
Professional fishermen in Brandenburg are currently taking a break so as not to further thin out the fish stock.
"Overall, however, the stocks will still need a few years to recover - if they get the chance," said water expert Christian Wolter from IGB.
Despite the quarrels, German government politicians keep emphasizing that they are looking for an exchange with Poland.
There should be workshops in 2023, says Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens).
Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) announces a conference for which there are positive signals from Poland.
"What happened in the Oder in 2022 must not be repeated," says the head of government.
Poland does not draw any conclusions from the Oder tragedy
In Poland, fish kills have disappeared from the public debate.
At the end of September, a group of experts presented their report.
This confirmed the theses of the German side, according to which the cause was most likely the toxic effect of an algal bloom.
Conclusion: "Multicausal connections" would have led to the catastrophe.
From a German point of view, the sticking point is probably high salt discharges into the Oder.
Brandenburg's Environment Minister Axel Vogel (Greens) has so far been unsuccessful in asking Poland to disclose these.
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Radoslaw Gawlik from the "Let's Save the Rivers" alliance criticizes Poland's national-conservative PiS government for not drawing any conclusions from the environmental catastrophe.
"The government is not really trying to combat the causes of the fish kills, i.e. the pollution of the river by salt discharges, which probably come from mining." Despite the risk that the environmental catastrophe will repeat itself, the government in Warsaw is still pursuing the goal to regulate the Oder even more, Gawlik complains.
(sf with dpa)