After thousands of dead fish found in Polish river, environmental agency notifies prosecutors

Advisory: Updates with new photo

Thousands of dead fish have been found in the Oder river in Poland over the last two weeks. The regional environmental protection agency has reported the case to the public prosecutor’s office, asking it to investigate.

“The Oder is dying, not only from a lack of water,” wrote Wadim Tyszkiewicz, a local senator, on Facebook alongside photos of the dead fish, which he said “number in the thousands”. Recent hot, dry weather has seen rivers around Poland running dry.

However, the death of the fish in the Oder appears to have a different cause, with the regional fishing association saying that the water has been “poisoned by an unknown substance” and advising people to avoid fishing and to “absolutely not consume any fish caught”.

“The water in the river is cloudy, with foam smelling of chlorine and sewage,” added Tyszkiewicz, who noted that fish could be seen desperately “trying to catch oxygen from the surface of the water”.

An angler who has been fishing in the Oder for 30 years told broadcaster TVN that he had “never seen the river in such bad condition”. Like Tyszkiewicz, he noted that the “water is brown and smelly, it looks like sewage”.

pic.twitter.com/zWIuKA0vif

— Pawel Wita 🇺🇦 (@witapawel) August 9, 2022

The Provincial Inspectorate for Environmental Protection in Wrocław in late July found that “high oxygen levels in the water deviating from typical summer concentrations, the absence of [algae] bloom in the water, and the high water temperature indicate [the problem’s] unnatural origin”.

Mesitylene, a substance with toxic effects on aquatic organisms, was also identified at two locations on the river. Subsequently, in early August, the inspectorate took further samples from the river for testing. But even before getting the results, it decided to notify prosecutors, reports Radio Zet.

The inspectorate suggests that an environmental crime causing damage to the animal world – an offence punishable by up to five years in prison – may have taken place.