fishing boat beached on rocks near the Causeway over the weekend,is still active although this is little consolation for its owner.

A Fire Service spokesman said the boat has now been removed from the rocks and its pieces are being analysed to see if there are any foreign substances which may give investigators a clue as to the cause.

But this news offered meagre solace to the boat's owner, fisherman Mr. John DeSilva. Yesterday he continued to mourn its loss. He had owned the boat -- called the Miranda -- for ten years.

His wife Mrs. Margaret DeSilva said it was his joy and his livelihood. The boat was mysteriously set on fire sometime on Saturday but firefighters had to return to the scene on Sunday because of reports that flares were erupting from the still smouldering remains.

Police have not ruled out arson and are searching for a white man in a pale blue kayak with a red stripe on the side who was spotted at the scene.

"He is mourning the loss,'' said Mrs. DeSilva. "We are just as mystified as the Police. We are so numb about what has happened. We are completely dumbfounded.'' The boat, she said was insured but irreplaceable. It was built in Bermuda from Bermuda cedar.

"It has been just like losing a member of the family,'' she said.

Mrs. DeSilva claimed that as far as she knew, her husband had no enemies.

"There is nobody we can finger. We don't have any enemies.'' Adding insult to injury, the disaster occurred on her birthday. "It was a horrible present,'' she said.