Laboratory tests after a mass fish kill in the Oder River detected high levels of salinity but mercury was not poisoning its waters, Poland’s environment minister said Saturday as the mystery continued over what killed tons of fish in central Europe. Anna Moskwa, climate and environment minister, said analyzes of river samples taken in both Poland and Germany revealed elevated salt levels. Extensive toxicology studies are still underway in Poland, he said. He said Poland’s state veterinary authority had examined seven species of dead fish and ruled out mercury as the cause of the kill, but was still waiting for the results of other substances. He said test results from Germany also did not show high levels of mercury. POLAND SENDS TROOPS TO CLEAN UP ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER AS THOUSANDS OF DEAD FISH WASH UP ACHOR RIVER The Oder River stretches from the Czech Republic to the border between Poland and Germany before emptying into the Baltic Sea. Some German media had claimed that the river has been poisoned with mercury. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Friday that “huge amounts of chemical waste” were likely deliberately dumped into his country’s second-largest river, causing environmental damage so severe that it will take years for the waterway to recover. Volunteers retrieve dead fish from the water of the Oder River at the German-Polish border in Lebus, eastern Germany, Saturday, August 13, 2022. (Patrick Pleul/dpa via AP) On Saturday, Morawiecki promised to do everything possible to limit the environmental damage. Poland’s interior minister said a reward of 1 million zlotys ($220,000) would be paid to anyone who could help identify those responsible for polluting the river. Burma’s Military Court Sentences Deposed Leader to 5 Years for Corruption Authorities in the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania warned people not to fish or use water from the Szczecin Lagoon, as the river’s polluted water was expected to reach the estuary area on Saturday night. “The extent of the fish kill is shocking. This is a blow to the Oder as a waterway of great ecological value, from which it will probably not recover for a long time,” said Alex Vogel, environment minister in Brandenburg, Germany. state along which the river runs. The head of Polish Water, Poland’s national water authority, said on Thursday that 10 tonnes of dead fish had been removed from the river. Hundreds of volunteers were working to help collect dead fish along the German side. The German labs said they detected “atypical” levels of “salts” that could be linked to the die-off but would not fully explain them on their own. Morawiecki acknowledged that some Polish officials were “lazy” in reacting after huge numbers of dead fish were seen floating and washing ashore, and said two of them had been fired. “For me, however, the most important thing is to deal with this ecological disaster as soon as possible, because nature is our common heritage,” Morawiecki said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP His comments were echoed by Schwedt Mayor Annekathrin Hoppe, whose German town is next to the Lower Oder Valley National Park. He called the river pollution “an unprecedented environmental disaster” for the region.
