Poland’s Oder River is the second longest river that’s facing a mysterious mass die-off of fish species. Firefighters are working to clear the river by extracting tonnes of dead fish.
Poland’s Oder River is experiencing a bizarre case of a mass die-off of fishes. The mystery behind this catastrophic event has bamboozled the government, authorities, and environmentalists. So far, firefighters recovered 100 tonnes of fish carcasses from the Oder River The cause of these events remains unknown.
While Poland scientists didn’t find any toxic chemicals in the water, they did find increased salinity in the Oder River. This increase may be due to the falling water levels and high temperatures. In addition, Poland has sent water samples of the river for testing in Britain, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands.
Highlights:
- Several fish carcasses were seen floating in the Oder River
- Germany accuses Poland of not taking action sooner
- The cause behind this catastrophe remains unknown
Poland takes bold actions to bring the situation under control.
The river originates from the Czech Republic and flows through Poland and Germany to submerge into the Baltic Sea. The experts of both countries describe the deaths as the worst natural disaster in the two countries. In addition, Poland has announced a lofty money prize of €210,000 for whomsoever finds the cause and the people behind this disaster.
On Friday, the head of the Poland government, Mateusz Morawiecki, fired the CEO of Polish Waters. The company is in charge of water management in Poland. In response to negligence and poor handling of Oder’s pollution, the head of environmental protection was too let go.
Reportedly, the first incident of the mass die-off was in July near Wroclaw.
Germany accuses Poland of not taking immediate action.
Germany has accused Poland of letting this situation worsen by responding too slowly to the issue at hand. In response, Poland voiced on Tuesday to track down those responsible and increase penalties on polluters.
“We are determined to make every person and every establishment responsible for this kind of incident bear the consequences,” stated the Polish Prime Minister’s chief of staff.
As a precaution, German municipalities have restricted people from fishing and bathing in the Oder. In addition, to stop the dead fishes from further spreading across Szczecin Lagoonwater bodies, environment ministers announced a plan. Both Polish and German scientists announced to limit the spread of dead fish across the lagoon, they plan on deploying floating oil barriers.
According to the samples tested, the contaminated waters haven’t yet reached the western half of the lagoon.
100 tonnes of dead fish recovered from the Oder River.
On Tuesday, Monika Nowakowska-Drynda from the National Firefighter Press Office notified since Friday, more than 100 tonnes of dead fish have been recovered. “We’d never had an operation of this scope on a river before,” she further added.
The environmental experts blame the climatic changes for the unfortunate turn of events. Due to love river levels this summer, experts suspect the fishes came close to toxins resting on the riverbed. The climate and environment ministry are also analysing unfavourable environmental changes as a potential cause of the floating dead fishes in the Oder River.
The conservationists fear the massive die-off may devastate the biodiversity and ecosystem of the Oder River.
The cause of the massive fish die-off in the Oder River is an alarming concern and the cause remains unknown. If the environmental shifts are the reason behind this catastrophe, it may become an agitating concern for the entire European continent.
