The fish kill in the Oder is a major catastrophe. But now the Baltic Sea is also in danger of being poisoned. Oil booms on the Szczecin Lagoon should at least prevent animal carcasses from being washed into the Baltic Sea.

In connection with the fish deaths in the Oder, oil barriers in the Szczecin Lagoon should prevent a greater spread of possible fish carcasses. The environment ministers of Poland and Germany as well as the federal states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have agreed on this, as a spokesman for the Schwerin environment ministry said on Monday. The meeting, attended by MV Environment Minister Till Backhaus (SPD), took place on Sunday evening in Stettin (Szczecin), Poland.

So far, no dead fish have been washed up from the Oder in the German part of the lagoon into which the Oder flows – at around 900 square kilometers it is about twice the size of Lake Constance.

The Oder reaches the Stettiner Haff near Stettin on the Polish side, two-thirds of which belongs to Poland. There are two water connections to the Baltic Sea. The smaller eastern part of the lagoon starts at Altwarp, belongs to Germany and is connected to the Baltic Sea via the Peenestrom.

The death of fish in the Oder has been worrying fishermen and other people who live on the border river in Poland and Germany for days. According to government information, Polish authorities had already received the first indications at the end of July that many dead freshwater fish were floating in the river.

In Brandenburg, large quantities of fish carcasses have been taken out of the river in recent days. According to government information on the Polish side, the exact cause is still unclear. “So far I have no knowledge of this,” said Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke in Szczecin when asked by journalists about the cause of the mysterious mass death of fish. “It really does seem to be the case that these are chemical substances from industrial production.” “But we don’t know for sure,” Lemke emphasized. “Therefore, we have to work together at full speed to clarify this.”

The German authorities had received the first indications of an unusual fish kill on Tuesday. They called on the people on the Oder to avoid contact with the water. Bodies of water such as the so-called Alte Oder were separated to prevent contaminated water from entering. On Saturday, Lemke did not rule out that the authorities could issue a swimming warning for the Baltic Sea, for example in the area of ​​the island of Usedom.

Further laboratory results are expected in Brandenburg on Monday. Among other things, it is checked whether an increased salt content in the river water is related to the fish kill. Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) wants to get an idea of ​​the situation in Lebus an der Oder on Monday.