‘Nothing was done for 17 days’: Polish government under fire for handling of River Oder crisis

Half a ton of dead fish flow through the River Oder in Poland every hour, along with many dead birds, beavers, and mussels. The riverbanks are covered with the smell of rotting bodies, and something else. The mystery behind the poisoning is still a mystery.

On 14 August, Polish authorities and the locals had retrieved more 20 tonnes of dead fish from their waterways. Some even burned their hands. German and Polish media condemned the poisoning as an unprecedented ecological disaster. Experts estimate that it will take the river at least 10 to 15 more years to recover.

“This is a crime against nature, environment, and humans,” Dr Sebastian Pilichowski, a biologist at the University of Zielona Góra, tells the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. “It is a mass death sentence, and the death won’t be immediate. Fish fight for survival in shallow shorewater with an invisible enemy. They feel the pain.”

Which areas have been affected by the River Oder pollution

The damage continues to travel north with the river’s flow – commonly known as the Oder (German) and the Odra (Polish and Czech).

It has already reached the Szczecin Lagoon, bordering the two countries, and is expected to wreak havoc on the basin’s rich fish stocks. The toxins will then enter the waterways. Baltic SeaTravel eastwards on current. They will likely affect the West Pomerania coast and some tourist sites, such as the seaside resort of Misdroy (Międzyzdroje).

Fishing is banned from October to the end, but fishermen don’t think they will be allowed to fish until the spring. “Nobody knows anything so far”, one fisherman told Gazeta Wyborcza. Some fish are so large that they cannot fit in the trash bags. Although such large fish are great for catching, it will be many years before they return. Tourism and fishing companies are already laying off locals.

Unique nature reserves, including the Lower Odra Valley Landscape Park or the Warta Mouth National Park may also be at risk. The canal network that runs through the former is almost stagnant and forms the basis of the latter. If the toxins penetrate the canals, “all nature will be exterminated”, Warns Ryszard Mićko, director of landscape parks in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. “I cannot imagine that happening.”

Over a dozen species of birds call Warta Mouth National Park home. endangered speciesEurasian teal, curlew and other species. Although the river flows 3km from the park’s borders, birds feeding off fish cadavers mean that the toxins can penetrate the park’s food chain. 

There is no known substance or culprit.

We still don’t know what substance caused The poisoningIt is not known when it reached the river. It was, however, a deliberate act.

“We are most likely dealing with a crime where a substance was introduced into the water that caused fish and other organisms to die. This is being verified at the moment,” deputy climate and environment minister Jacek Ozdoba told Polish media.

“As the Oder is a massive river, the spill had to be very large or the toxin very potent,” explains professor Jan Marcin Węsławski, marine biologist and director of the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Mesitylene was the main suspect up until 11 August. It is an industrial solvent that was found in two samples, but not further detected after 1 August. Then, German researchers detected mercury levels so high “they could not define the scale”. This theory is still being debated.

While the Polish authorities did not find any mercury after Thursday, German counterparts found high levels. While the Polish samples were taken from main current, German researchers had theirs in stagnant water. Most investigators agree that mercury alone is not the cause of the die-offs. The concentration dropped to unacceptable but not excessive levels.

Some believe that industrially produced salts are responsible for the high levels of salinity. These substances can be toxic by themselves, but high-saline water can temporarily release heavy metals from riverbeds. This is why mercury is present.

Wroclaw’s district prosecutor has established a special unit to investigate this spillage. Tests in nearby companies are ongoing. The police are offering a prize of 1mln PLN (€215,000) for help in finding the culprit. 

The slow response by the Polish government is causing controversy

Scientists, environmentalists and opposition parties have all criticised the Polish government for not reacting quickly enough.

Fishermen first noticed dead fish in waters near Oława, about 400 kilometres away from the sea, three weeks ago on 25 July. The mayor of Oława, Tomasz Frischmann, alerted the provincial governor of Lower Silesia Voivodeship, Jarosław Obremski, on 1 August. Obremski, who had been on vacation since 28 July, did not return to stop the catastrophe. This prompted opposition politicians To callFor his dismissal.

Małgorzata Tracz, an MP from the opposition Green party, alerted local and regional authorities on 3 August. She reached out to Polish Water, the government body responsible for inland surface waters, and the president of Wrocław, among others. According to reports, no one answered her.

The government responded two weeks later after the first fish were found in Oława. On 11 August, defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak announced that 150 soldiers were being sent to assist in cleaning up the river and setting up barriers to catch the flows of dead fish.

On 15 August, an Icebreaker joined the clean-up effort. Its primary task is to create waves that allow dead fish to float up from riverbeds. Citizens also took on their own clean-up efforts.

It took the government until Friday to issue the document. a warningThe river should be avoided. Hospitals have not yet received any victims of poisoning. However, some people who removed fish from the river without using protective gear have suffered burns. One dog that swam in the river in Wrocław had to be treated for acute poisoning.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki resigned both the main inspector of environmental protection and the head for Polish Waters on 12th August.

On August 15, the Greens opposition party filed an idea to dismiss all five Voivodeship governors, along with Oder. “They had the tools to prevent the poison from spilling all over Western Poland,” Greens leader Urszula Zielińska stated. “Nothing was done for 17 days.” 

How have scientists responded to the ecological catastrophe?

This issue was not covered by state TV channel TVP. To several scientists, the poisoning exposes flaws in Poland’s water monitoring system.

“This is a scandal,” Says Węsławski. “Our waters are only checked a few times a year, while it should happen a few times per day.”

It is difficult to find reliable information about the current state of the crisis. There is no information available that would indicate if other organisms (e.g., plants, plankton, and shellfish) were also affected. However, this information is vital for identifying the toxins and understanding the speed at which the river can recover.

“You would want to have honest, current, full results from the government, ideally with explanations for those who did not study hydrobiology. Then comes the conclusion and a plan for repair. But we’ve got what we’ve got,” WritesMarta Jermaczek -Sitak is a biologist and an ecologist.

Germany is not happy about Poland’s response to the Oder poisoning

German authorities do not share Jermaczek-Sitak’s stoicism. Officials AccusedTheir Polish counterparts were accused of violating international law by failing to share news about the poisoning. The German side was informed about the crisis by a captain of a river barge.

Berlin was not officially informed by Warsaw until 11 August, when German scientists had already detected mercury in the river samples. A few tonnes of dead fish were already found on the German river shores. Similar barriers to catching cadavers appeared yesterday (15 August).

Constitutional tribunal judge Krystyna Pawłowicz, a conservative installed by the ruling party, even SuggestionsThe Germans poisoned it. The claim is literaly reversed, but it follows the flow of the strained Polish–German relations. 

The countries’ officials met on Sunday to discuss joint solutions, but tensions remain high.

Is there any hope for the Oder River?

The Oder River is Poland’s second-largest. It begins in Czechia, and flows through Poland to reach the Baltic Sea at the border with Germany. In good health, the river has more than 40. Fish species.

The Polish environmental community is not only participating in clean-ups but also trying to keep their spirits up. It is great news to find lower levels of mercury than was initially reported. The fact that the incident occurred after most birds’ breeding season passed is another source of cautious optimism.

Prof. Węsławski also Points to nature’s resilience. “Odra isn’t dead yet,” he says. “Perhaps we might not be able to use it for a while but every ecosystem builds back. Perhaps in a different form but it will build back.”