A new environmental monitoring program is peeling back the curtain on the secret life of fish and other aquatic animals living in NSW’s coastal rivers.

The Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) is warning hypoxic blackwater conditions are occurring along the Barwon-Darling River, which have impacted fish, causing some recent deaths.

The NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment today released a progress report into the water connectivity study being undertaken on the Cockburn River to assess interaction between surface and groundwater.

Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) officers will be visiting quarries in the Northern Rivers, the Hunter and Sydney Metro to assess their compliance with water laws.