Large amounts of washed-up dead fish have spread further along the Hunter's beaches as authorities continue to investigate how the aquatic animals have ended up ashore.
The Herald reported on Thursday that dozens of dead fish were found washed up on Merewether, Dudley and Redhead beaches from Tuesday.
The NSW Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Friday reports of dead fish had been expanded further to Bar Beach and Belmont, and the matter was still being investigated.
"The EPA has not detected any pollution incidents from land-based activities," a spokesperson said.
"EPA officers are working with NSW Department of Fisheries and Department of Planning and Environment's Science Economics and Insights (SEI) to determine the cause of the event."
From investigations so far, DPI Fisheries has found there are large numbers of dead fish offshore, made up of mainly two species, Ward's Damsel and Rough Bullseye, the EPA spokesperson said.
Veteran Lake Macquarie fisherman Jason Nunn said he did not believe the fish had been caught in a by-catch as the bullseye were "not an open water fish".
"I've never heard of a fish kill of bullseye," he said.
"These are very hardy, reef-dwelling fish. They're not caught by anglers.
"Further investigation definitely needs to be done."
The EPA spokesperson said they had collected fish samples, which have been sent to DEP SEI for analysis.
Department of Primary Industries Fisheries and Department of Environment Science also attended the affected beaches on Friday to obtain further fish and water samples for laboratory analysis.
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