Nearly 700 kilograms of dead fish have been removed from the Darling River in NSW's far west as authorities start the clean-up following another mass kill in Menindee.
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Hundreds of thousands of fish are blanketing sections of the Menindee weir pool and the Darling River less than a month after up a million fish died in the same area.
The majority of fish affected were Bony Herring with contractors removing up to 700kg of dead fish on Monday, the NSW Department of Primary Industries said.
A similar amount was expected to be removed on Tuesday.
NSW Regional Water Minister Niall Blair visited Menindee on Tuesday to see first-hand what he's termed an "environmental catastrophe".
His riverbank press conference was hijacked by locals frustrated with the decision to drain the Menindee Lakes in 2017 and the extraction of water by cotton growers.
The minister said he understood the frustration of residents and argued the meeting with locals was constructive and "polite".
The DPI says the Menindee deaths are the result of critically low levels of dissolved oxygen - likely linked to the mixing of weir pool water following a drop in temperatures in recent days.
Local Graeme McCrabb estimates millions of fish have died in the latest event.
NSW primary industries staff travelled south of Menindee to Redbank Weir near Balranald on Tuesday to confirm reports of more fish deaths on the Murrumbidgee River.
Mr Blair says initial reports suggest hundreds of fish have died.
Australian Associated Press
