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The beginning of August marks the second anniversary of the man-made environmental disaster on the River Oder. Researchers led by the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) have compiled and analyzed the key environmental factors that led to the mass development of the brackish water alga Prymnesium parvum in the Oder in the summer of 2022. Its toxin killed hundreds of thousands of fish, mussels and snails.

In the summer of 2022, around 1,000 tonnes of fish, mussels and snails died in the River Oder. Although the disaster was man-made, the immediate cause of death was the toxin of a microalgae with the scientific collective name Prymnesium parvum, often referred to as 'golden algae'. Since then, these unicellular organisms have colonised the Oder permanently.

In July and August 2022, a man-made environmental disaster occurred in the Oder River: a mass die-off of fish, mussels and snails that started in the Polish section of the Oder and then continued downstream until it reached the border Oder. Researchers estimate that up to 1,000 tonnes of fish were lost. The immediate cause of their death was a toxin-producing (planktonic) brackish water alga, scientifically known as Prymnesium parvum, which was able to grow en masse due to high salinity, high solar radiation, and low water flow.