Time.news – Rare microorganisms known as chrysophyeae or golden algae could be the cause of fish deaths in the Oder River which has alarmed authorities and scientists in recent days. According to the Guardian, the Polish firefighters since last Friday they recovered more than 100 tons of dead fish in the Oderwhile in Germany the authorities collected about 35 tons.
“After further investigations” the Polish authorities, days ago accused by Berlin for the lack of alert on schools of dead fish arrived in Germany, “they found rare microorganisms, the so-called golden algae, in the water samples of the Oder River“said Anna Moskwa, Minister of the Environment of the Warsaw government.
“The flowering of algae – added the minister – could have caused the appearance of toxins that kill fish and clams, but are not considered harmful to humans”. The seaweed detected in the waters of the river that crosses the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland, explained the Guardian, is usually found in brackish waters where rivers meet the sea, but it is known that they spread more inland when there are high salinity levels in the water.
“This species of algae requires high salt levels that are naturally not found in the affected stretch of the Oder,” said Jan Kohler, of the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology in Berlin. The Polish authorities are therefore investigating whether the particularly high concentrations of pollutants and salinity may be linked to climate change, already held responsible for greater evaporation of internal waterways.
Fertilizers used on farmland adjacent to the river also have the potential to cause algal blooms, the scientists said. Among other hypotheses on the origins of the disaster – which forced many German municipalities to impose a ban on bathing and fishing in the river – there is also that of a chemical spill.
For this, Poland has offered a reward of one million zlotys, the equivalent of 210 thousand euros, to anyone who can “help find those responsible for this environmental disaster”.