shore.

But outspoken fisherman Mr. Danny Farias said this week he was convinced that marine pollution, particularly chemicals from sewage emptied in the ocean, was responsible for the deaths.

After receiving calls from people about dead fish seen along North Shore, Mr.

Farias had a look for himself. On Monday, at Tobacco Bay in St. George's, he discovered dead hogfish, black rockfish, red hinds and grunts.

He claimed it wasn't the first time he had seen dead fish in such large numbers, adding that parrot fish, doctor fish, squirrel fish, bream and cowfish had also been found dead along North and South shores, with no apparent explanation.

He said the discovery of the fish made him concerned about marine pollution.

And he blamed chemicals from sewage pipes emptied into the ocean for the deaths.

The grass in Jews Bay had been killed by effluent dumped into the sea by a sewage pipe from the Southampton Princess, claimed Mr. Farias.

He said the pipe, which runs through a sewage treatment plant, should be diverted to South Shore, where the water has more movement. The sewage, he said, would be flushed out to sea.

Mr. Farias associates all the dead fish he has found over the past few years with pollution from such sewage pipes, which he feels should be extended further out to sea.

However, a spokeswoman for the Corporation of St. George's said sewage from the town's pipes, although not treated, was disposed some one thousand feet away from the shore.

Mr. Farias also suggested algae bloom could be a cause of the deaths.

"The more pollution we put into the water, the sooner we'll come to the point of algae bloom,'' he said.

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. The fish cannot breathe and die.

Such an occurrence usually takes place in a warm climate when there is little wind and waters are not flushed.

A spokesman at the Bermuda Biological Station said algae blooms have occurred occasionally in Hamilton Harbour and Harrington Sound, but not in Tobacco Bay.

They were not necessarily a product of pollution, he said.

Dr. James Burnett-Herkes, Permanent Secretary for the Environment, said until the fish were analysed, there remained a number of possible causes for their deaths.

But Mr. Farias remained convinced pollution was the cause. "What I see in the future is very serious,'' he said, "we have to tackle the problem.'' SOMETHING FISHY -- Mr. Danny Farias shows the dead fish he found in the waters off North Shore.