This river was hit by a
mysterious disaster in 2022. Thousands of fish have washed
up dead along the Oder River. With almost no warning,
its fish population started to die on a massive
and unprecedented scale. An environmental catastrophe. Mysterious and unprecedented. And we still don't have any answers. At the time, experts and officials
couldn't agree on the cause, nor the remedy of this mass extinction. Do we know more today? And could we be able to
revive the aquatic population? We sent Felicia from
Planet Wild to the Oder Delta to get to the bottom of it and help bring back life to a
death-stricken river ecosystem. We are Planet Wild. Welcome to Mission 5! This is the
Oder River. It brings water all the way from
the Czech Republic to the Baltic Sea. Its last 200 kilometers, mark the
border between Poland and Germany. Last year, it was the focal
point of international attention, when an ecological disaster
struck, with little-to-no warning. Thousands
of tons of fish were killed and
mussels killed, and nobody knew,
what was going on. We're here to bring help. But first, let's piece together
what actually happened. On July 28, 2022, there were
already indications of toxic substances further upstream
at Opole. But nobody sounded the alarm yet. On August 2nd, a local
newspaper in Southern Poland reported a sighting of dead fish in
one of the Oder's contributing channels. But still, few
people took notice. Then, only five days later,
the water monitoring system for the Oder in
Frankfurt, Germany, went crazy. Measurements spiked
and went literally off the charts across all kinds
of water health indicators, showing a wave of organic
material was heading downstream and indicating, what would
quickly become evident for all to see. Over the next weeks, millions of fish
died and washed up all along these shores, together with countless
small vertebrates. Even beavers, ducks,
and other birds living along the riverbank
had been found dead. But what had
caused this? And what the
hell can we do? By the way, if you're
wondering who we are, Planet Wild is a
community, that anyone
can join to help restore our planet
through monthly missions like this. If you want to give
back to nature, consider joining and becoming
part of these missions as a backer. There's a
link in the description. We'll also share more
information at the end. Now, back
to the video. For the months
following the disaster, experts and officials
could not agree on what had
actually caused it. Was it chemical waste
illegally dumped into the water? Mercury, other heavy metals,
high salt concentration? The water was tested
for 300 substances. Was it a crime? A bounty of over 200,000 Euros was
announced to find the perpetrator. An investigation
by Polish police discovered, that a total
of 282 illegal drain pipes led into the river. But which one
was the culprit? And who was
responsible? It seemed like everybody
was trying to shift the blame. But without a clear
understanding of the problem, there couldn't
be a plan to fix it or prevent it from
happening again. Now, a year later, the
picture is becoming clearer. A conference on the health
of the Oder River held earlier this
year in Frankfurt concluded that the
extinction was caused by the convergence of
two man-made problems. Number one: a discharge of
industrial pollution into the river, which raised its
salt concentration and according to a Greenpeace
report can largely be traced back to
the mining industry. Number two: the increasing
effects of climate change, which caused higher than
normal water temperatures and extremely
low water levels. This combination led to the
blooming of the golden algae, an organism, that normally
only exists in salty water and doesn't
belong here. This algae creates neurotoxins, that are poisonous to
the fishes' nervous systems and can destroy their blood cells. And it gets worse. Now that the golden algae has
spread in the river, it will likely stay. Ready to bloom again, as soon
as the same conditions arise. And indeed, reports are
already coming in this year, that fish are
dying again. The numbers will be lower and
so might not make the headlines, but that is only because
there aren't many fish left with only one
year to recover. So ironically, lower numbers
mean an overall larger problem. I think from
1970 to 2020, about 90% of migratory fish
in Europe have disappeared. It is clear that political
regulation is needed to stop this. But with two countries
involved, different economic interests
and strong industrial lobbies, there's complete political
gridlock on the topic. So is there anything we can
do to help the ecosystem? Something pragmatic,
actionable and outside of politics, that can boost
the river's resilience. We have found a
way to do just that. And we're partnering
with the great folks at Rewilding Oder
Delta to make it happen. Rivers need space
for meandering. And here is an island of
biodiversity, thanks to our work. This is Arthur. He's an expert
at River Rewilding and has worked over
20 years along the Oder's tributaries. While often
overlooked, these tributaries have
always been crucial to the health of any river
ecosystems. But since the
disaster in 2022, Arthur's work has
gained a new dimension, because the
tributary streams are now becoming a lifeline
for the struggling Oder. Thanks to keeping
some tributaries of the Oder River
in good condition, with good health, some fish were
able to survive. Without these safe
havens last year, there would be much fewer
fish in the Oder today, which just highlights how important Arthur's
work has gotten. We're here at the Ina
River, about six kilometers away from its Oder
entry to show you why. Because Arthur's work
has precisely focused on creating new breeding
grounds for all kinds of fish and aquatic
life that spawn here, and can then revive
the Oder waters as well. A big part of Arthur's
work is undoing the harm humans have done
to the river at a time, when they didn't
know better. The Ina was one of the first
rivers in Europe to be channelized as part of the Hanseatic trading
routes in the 16th century. What seemed like
undisputable progress at the time, is understood today to cause a
whole range of ecological problems. Channelization means straightening
and deepening the stream. The result is a loss of
breeding ground for fish, that need diverse
river beds to flourish, and it even destroys
the surrounding meadow habitats that depend
on natural overflow. After the second
world war, commercial use
of the Ina stopped. Arthur's team helped
fight political initiatives to re-channelize it in
the 1990s and 2000s, so the river has
started to self-restore through natural
meandering. But nature alone won't be
able to undo the effects of human
intervention, because the original
ground material, that the river bed needs, was created during long-gone
glacial times, but luckily
we can help. Arthur has been pioneering
an effective method to rewild the river and
restore its original structure. It simply relies on
giving back to nature, what humans
have taken from it. And the number one
thing this river needs is gravel. 20 years ago, Arthur started doing
something very simple. Replenishing the river
beds with the gravel stones, that canalization
had depleted them off. We put here
together 1,300 tons of gravel, so it is
a huge amount. What I love about
rewilding work is how often
something that seems a bit
mundane at the surface, is actually
extremely exciting, once you understand
everything that's going on. Come and see
for yourself! By filling up the river bed
with a specific type of gravel, multiple things
happen at once. Number 1: Gravel creates the perfect
breeding ground for many fish species, including
trout, grayling and salmon, as it provides shelter
for spawned eggs, as well as
for baby fish, for their larvae and
early juvenile stages. Number 2: It cleans the water, because it drastically
increases the surface area for bacteria that feed
on dead organic matter. While not visible
to the naked eye, bacteria are one of the most important
aspects of biodiversity on earth. When for
example, is polluted too much fertilizer or
material organic matter comes to
such river, it is able to
clean itself. Number 3: Oxygenation. By creating countless little
turbulences in the water, the stream can
absorb more oxygen. Different from
the air we breathe, oxygen levels in the water
can vary tremendously and if there's
too little, life can't flourish. Number 4: The shallower river bed increases natural overflow during heavy rains
and snow melt, which protects the river from
destructive currents and erosion. Number 5: The overflowing
meadows and forests form habitats for new
plants and animal species, like marsh marigold, aquatic
insects, frogs, salamanders and so on. Those flat plain
it is a part of valley, which should be
flooded every year. This is not a catastrophe. Catastrophe is when water
is going out from this area, but here flat it is a
part of normal life cycle. Number 6: Those wetlands then
serve as feeding grounds for birds like kingfisher,
Bee Eater, and St. Martin Bird, who have all
come back here. And finally,
number 7: The shallower river beds
provide passage for large mammals that
couldn't cross over before, including the
European bison, that went completely
extinct in the wild 100 years ago, but has been reintroduced to
the region by our friends at ZTP. We did a whole
video on this topic, that you can
watch right here. Arthur and his team have been
doing this since 20 years and it's
amazing to see, how quickly nature can
regenerate with a little help. Right here, the river bed rewilding
happened only one year ago. The effects are
already clearly visible and will only
increase with time. And most
importantly, rivers like the Ina, that
begin to thrive again, and reach their full potential
for spawning new life, create a constant
downstream effect to add biodiversity to the larger
river ecosystem of the Oder Delta. And of course, we wouldn't be
here if we wouldn't bring support. Together with the
Planet Wild community we're funding the creation
of new breeding grounds in two of the
Oder's tributaries: the Ina River and the Gowienica
River, a bit further north. The method is already
proven, as we've seen now, we just need
to scale it up. By rebuilding the
lost breeding grounds, we can help
to massively increase the possibility of natural
reproduction of many species. What makes this
rewilding method so successful, is how simple and
straightforward it is. It is very
cost-efficient, requires no heavy
construction work, creates low bureaucratic
hurdles, which is far more important than
I can get into in this video, and it requires zero
maintenance after implementation. It simply gives back to nature
and then let's nature take over. And this way, even while
political regulation is lagging, we can do something
truly meaningful. Strengthen the
river ecosystem by creating crucial
spaces for distressed fish, to find refuge and from where
they can always repopulate and as a result make
the Oder Delta ecosystem more resilient
as a whole. Planet Wild is a new
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long way together in a short period
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out our previous videos, where we helped save
Europe's cutest bird and revive a forest
after an eco disaster. I'm looking forward to
seeing you. Over and out.
