Laboratory checks following a mass die-off of fish within the Oder River detected excessive ranges of salinity however no mercury poisoning its waters, Poland’s atmosphere minister has stated, because the thriller continued as to what killed tonnes of fish in Central Europe.
Anna Moskwa, the minister of local weather and atmosphere, stated on Saturday that analyses of river samples taken in Poland and Germany revealed elevated salt ranges. Complete toxicology research are nonetheless below approach in Poland, she stated.
Moskwa stated Poland’s state veterinary authority examined seven species of the useless fish and dominated out mercury as the reason for the die-off however was nonetheless ready for outcomes of different substances. She stated take a look at outcomes from Germany had additionally not proven a excessive presence of mercury.
The Oder River runs from the Czech Republic to the border between Poland and Germany earlier than flowing into the Baltic Sea. A piece of German media reported that the river has been poisoned with mercury.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated on Friday that “enormous quantities of chemical waste” had been in all probability dumped deliberately into the nation’s second-longest river, inflicting environmental injury so extreme it could take years for the waterway to recuperate.
On Saturday, Morawiecki promised to do all the pieces potential to restrict the environmental devastation. Poland’s inside minister stated a reward of 1 million zlotys ($220,000) can be paid to anybody who helps monitor down these answerable for polluting the river.
Authorities within the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania warned individuals to not fish or use water from the Szczecin lagoon, because the river’s contaminated water was anticipated to achieve the estuary space on Saturday night.
“The extent of the fish die-off is stunning. It is a blow to the Oder as a waterway of nice ecological worth, from which it is going to presumably not recuperate for a very long time,” stated Alex Vogel, the atmosphere minister for Germany’s Brandenburg state, alongside which the river runs.
Poland’s Nationwide Water Administration Authority stated on Thursday that 10 tonnes of useless fish had been faraway from the river. Tons of of volunteers had been working to assist gather useless fish alongside the German facet.
German laboratories stated they detected “atypical” ranges of “salts” that may very well be linked to the die-off however that might not totally clarify them on their very own.
Morawiecki acknowledged that some Polish officers had been “sluggish” in reacting after enormous numbers of useless fish had been seen floating and washing ashore, and stated two of them had been dismissed.
“For me, nonetheless, a very powerful factor is to cope with this ecological catastrophe as quickly as potential, as a result of nature is our widespread heritage,” Morawiecki stated.
His feedback had been echoed by Schwedt Mayor Annekathrin Hoppe, whose German city is positioned subsequent to the Decrease Oder Valley Nationwide Park.
She referred to as the contamination of the river “an environmental disaster of unprecedented scale” for the area.
