A foul stench pouring off Richardson's Bay has area residents demanding to know what is being done to clean up the environmental nuisance -- and possible hazard.

Residents suspect that the source of the problem may be a fuel leak in the area water or soil given the proximity of fuel storage tanks for both Shell and Esso and the fact that a pipeline through the bay supplies fuel to the airport.

Other pipelines flow from Ferry Reach as well, including the main line which supplies BELCO.

Last night, however, Environment Minister Terry Lister said that at this point, the Ministry has not identified exactly what is causing the odour in the small bay along Ferry Reach ringed by the Prison Farm, Esso and the Biostation.

Mr. Lister said, as far as he knew, no clean-up efforts were being undertaken in Richardson's Bay at this point but the search for the source of the stench was underway.

But Mr. Lister admitted he was not familiar with the problem and only knew that it had been going on for some time. Several calls to Environment Officer Dr. Tom Sleeter -- who The Royal Gazette was told is familiar with the problems in the bay -- over the last two days have gone unreturned.

One of the affected bay area residents, Diana Lynn, told The Royal Gazette that the sulphuric -- or rotten eggs -- smell wafting off the bay was first noticed last summer.

At first the odour came and went from the small bay, she said, but last November it became more intense. That was the time period when the search began to find out what was causing the offensive odour, she said.

"Then one day it smelled intensely like oil,'' said Ms Lynn and an oil slick formed in Richardson's Bay. "It turned out to be a leak from the Shell pipeline and they fixed it immediately,'' she said.

Ms Lynn said that she and a friend had even collected a sample of the fuel in the water.

Dozens of calls by The Royal Gazette to Shell's local business manager David Rose at both his office and home went unreturned yesterday. General manager John Vickerman is off the Island.

Ms Lynn said that the smell went away for a period of time after the mud was blown out of the bay, but recently -- within the last week -- the smell has returned with a vengeance.

"Sometimes it's like an oil smell,'' Ms Lynn said but generally the most noticeable aspect is the rotten eggs' odour. Other sources stressed that the smell tends to be strongest at low tide and on rainy days.

Depending on wind direction, the odour can be blown across to the airport.

When The Royal Gazette went out to Ferry Reach to investigate the complaints the odour was detected along Kindley Field Road almost directly across from Richardson's Bay.

Walking along the shore of the bay, the smell was most intense at a small point on the Biostation land, however not all of the shoreline of the bay was accessible.