450 kilograms of dead fishes, toxic algae found in Polish waters near German border

 

POLAND – The Polish Environment Ministry ordered oxygen levels in the Gliwice Canal that leads from the Oder River in western Poland to be raised after finding 450 kilograms of dead fishes in the Gliwice and a second canal leading off of it.

The move was decided by a crisis unit in the region, the ministry said in a statement issued late on Sunday.

According to the regional authorities, the dead fish were found in the Gliwice and the Kędzierzyn Canal that stems from the Gliwice, as oxygen levels had fallen dramatically.

“Samples taken on June 10 show the presence of golden algae in the Kędzierzyn Canal and at two points in the Gliwice Canal. The algae could have moved with the flow,” the Environment Ministry said.

The algae can produce toxins harmful to fish. An earlier sample taken on June 7 showed golden algae in the Kędzierzyn Canal, but not in the Gliwice Canal.

The Gliwice Canal, which began operating in 1939, measures 41 kilometres in length and links Gliwice in Upper Silesia to the Oder. The Kędzierzyn Canal, which is 4.5 kilometres long, branches off it and leads to the chemical plants in Kędzierzyn-Koźle.

Last summer, hundreds of fishes died in the Oder, which runs along the German border. Scientists on both sides of the border reached the conclusion that blooms from the golden alga Prymnesium parvum were to blame.