Professional fishermen say fish stocks in the Oder River are recovering following a mass die-off this summer in the waterway that flows along the German-Polish border.
The result of two surveys is that the fish are doing surprisingly well, Lars Dettmann, managing director of the Brandenburg-Berlin State Fisheries Association, told dpa on Tuesday.
Together with the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Dettmann was recently on a section of the river near the city of Frankfurt an der Oder to help observe the fish population.
"The Oder is visibly recovering. You can see live mussels and snails and fish that are vital," he told dpa.
Tons of dead fish was recovered from the German-Polish border river in early August.
Several hundred chemical substances could be possible contributors to the environmental catastrophe, German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said on Monday, but the exact cause of the environmental disaster is still unclear.
Experts believe that high salinity in the river is a major reason, combined with low water, high temperatures and a toxic algae species.
According to Dettmann, during first investigation 11 days ago, 14 species had been discovered among the 550 healthy fish observed, including perch, pike perch, and rock perch.
The latter is a very sensitive fish species, he said.
A second sampling this week had also painted a brighter picture, but the data was still be examined.
In the meantime, the water of the Oder river has risen by about a meter, according to the executive director of the state fisheries association.
"The Oder is recovering, but it will take years to heal what was broken," Dettmann said.
