dpatopbilder - 12.08.2022, Brandenburg, Schwedt: Viele tote Fische treiben im Wasser des deutsch-polnischen Grenzflusses Oder im Nationalpark Unteres Odertal nördlich der Stadt Schwedt. Am selben Tag informierte sich Brandenburgs Umweltminister Vogel (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) bei einem Vor-Ort-Besuch über die Lage am Fluss Oder. Das Fischsterben in der Oder ist nach Angaben der polnischen Umweltschutzbehörde wahrscheinlich von einer Wasserverschmutzung durch die Industrie ausgelöst worden. Foto: Patrick Pleul/dpa +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++

The Ministry of the Environment in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania expects the effects of the fish kill in the Oder on the Szczecin Lagoon. It is to be expected that the loads will already reach the mouth of the Oder near Szczecin (Poland) in the evening, depending on wind and current conditions, the ministry wrote in a statement late on Friday evening. In the course of Saturday, the Western Pomeranian part of the Szczecin Lagoon could also be affected.

As a precaution, the Ministry of Till Backhaus (SPD) therefore called on residents to refrain from fishing in and taking water from the water – regardless of use. The responsible authorities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are currently preparing water and fish samples.

The cause of mass fish deaths along the Oder is not yet clear. Previous laboratory analyzes did not bring any precise information about the pollution of the water and the causes. Since the cause of the environmental disaster is suspected to be in Poland, accusations have already been made in Germany that the neighboring country did not provide information in good time and did not follow the usual reporting chain for such events.

Meanwhile, Poland has offered a hefty reward for information leading to the arrest of a perpetrator. The police have offered a sum of the equivalent of 210,000 euros, said Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik on Saturday in Gorzow Wielkopolski. “We want to find the culprits and punish the perpetrators of the environmental crime that is probably at stake here,” emphasized Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Poland’s government and authorities are under pressure because they have reacted too hesitantly to the fish kill. On Friday evening, Morawiecki had therefore dismissed the head of the water authority and the head of the environmental authority. He does not rule out further personnel consequences, said the head of government. Morawiecki admitted that he only found out about the massive fish kill on August 10th. “I was definitely informed too late.”

After a meeting with regional politicians, the opposition leader and former EU Council President Donald Tusk from the liberal-conservative Civic Platform (PO) called on the government to impose a state of emergency in the four voivodeships on the Oder because of a natural disaster.

The mayor of Schwedt, Annekathrin Hoppe (SPD), called the death of fish in the Oder an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented dimensions. The Lower Oder Valley National Park has great fears that the effects will be so huge that they will last for years, Hoppe said on rbb Inforadio on Saturday. “For us, this poisoning situation, which has now built up in the Oder, is an environmental disaster of unprecedented proportions.” Tourism and grazing and fishing are also severely affected.

On Saturday, an action to collect the carcasses began in Schwedt an der Oder. The emergency services are equipped with protective suits, said Hoppe in the rbb info radio. It can be assumed that there are substances that are hazardous to human health.

After the collection, the carcasses were taken to an incinerator in the afternoon, according to the district administration. The fish would be disposed of in a facility approved by the State Environment Agency, said the spokeswoman for the district, Ramona Fischer, on Saturday. The incinerator is in Schwedt on the site of the PCK refinery.

The Lower Oder Valley National Park near Schwedt in the Uckermark was founded more than 25 years ago and is Germany’s only floodplain national park. The area on the German-Polish border is 50 kilometers long and covers an area of ​​more than 10,000 hectares. It stretches along the western edge of the Oder from Hohensaaten in the south to Staffelde in the north. Waterfowl and other migratory birds use the area as a resting place.

Fish carcasses were also collected in other Brandenburg districts on Saturday. Around 300 emergency services have been on the road in the Märkisch-Oderland district for around 80 kilometers since Saturday morning, as the district spokesman Thomas Rubin said. “I reckon with several tons of fish that we get out.”

On the Oder in the small Brandenburg town of Lebus, not far from Frankfurt (Oder), an unpleasant smell had spread through the decomposition of the fish, a dpa reporter described. Birds can also be seen carrying away dead fish.

Helpers were equipped with gloves, rubber boots or waders. Sometimes boats are also used, said the spokesman for the district. According to him, the carcasses come in garbage bags, which are collected at several locations and then placed in containers.

After collecting the fish on Saturday, the disposal in the Märkisch-Oderland district is expected to continue on Monday, as the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, investigations into the massive fish kill continued. Previous laboratory analyzes did not bring any precise information about the pollution of the water and the causes.

According to information from Brandenburg’s Environment Minister Axel Vogel, the Oder has “very much increased salt loads”. That was “absolutely atypical,” said the Green politician on Friday evening on RBB television. Vogel’s ministry said the measured salt loads could be related to the fish kill.