the United States today to determine the cause of death.

Environment Permanent Secretary Dr. James Burnett-Herkes said the fish, some of which were found near Tobacco Bay earlier this week, will be examined in a lab used by the US National Marine Fishery in Charleston, South Carolina.

While he could not say how long the analysis -- which will include a look for a "whole spectrum'' of things that could have caused fish to die -- will take, Dr. Burnett-Herkes said a heart parasite and bacterial infections in the stomach of fish related to stress caused by recent temperature changes is believed to have caused their deaths.

"These are naturally occurring deaths,'' he said, adding that something similar happened about ten years ago in the Caribbean and this summer in the Carolinas although the cause of the dead fish in the Carolinas is still unknown.

But outspoken fisherman Mr. Danny Farias, who found dead hog fish, black rock fish, red hinds and grunts at Tobacco Bay on Monday and claims to have found other types of dead fish along the North and South Shore, blamed chemicals from sewage pipes emptied into the ocean for the deaths.

He said sewage pipes should be extended farther out and said algae bloom may have caused the fish's death.

Algae bloom can occur if there is a high concentration of nutrients in an enclosed bay. The nutrients cause a growth of algae which uses up all the oxygen in the bay.