Brandenburg’s Environment Minister Axel Vogel (Greens) hopes to find the cause of the great fish kill in the Oder on a meeting with the Polish side this Sunday. Then the German-Polish environmental council meets in Bad Saarow (Oder-Spree district). It is still unclear where the high salt content in the river comes from.
According to the scientists, this is a major reason for the environmental disaster, combined with low water, high temperatures and a toxic type of algae, said the environment minister on Wednesday in Frankfurt (Oder) Vogel. It is crucial that this high salt input no longer occurs in the future.
“That’s why we need to know: Where did the salt freight come from. Only Poland can clarify that,” he stressed. This will be discussed with the Polish side on Sunday. “I think then we will be a big step further.”
According to the minister, according to the international alarm plan to protect the Oder, the Polish authorities should have passed on their observations of fish deaths to the German authorities according to a fixed reporting chain, said Vogel. “But that didn’t happen,” he explained to the state parliament’s environmental committee on Tuesday. The reason for this was a misjudgment by the Polish authorities that it was a local event.
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After the mass death of fish, the river on the German side has been largely cleared of carcasses, according to the Environment Minister. The Ministry has this information.
