A scene of utter desolation! And the worst of it all is that no one can say for sure what caused the death of so many porpoises, which ran aground on our shores in the South-East last week. There are as many theories about these deaths as there are people trying to explain them.

Pollution, toxic seaweeds, accident or biological waste? These are some possible reasons. In any case, the result is the same: the sight of porpoises in decay and the unbearable smell which goes with it.

The authorities are waiting for a scientific report to determine the exact cause of this sad event but, for the moment, they tend to believe it was an accident. They say the Dornier took pictures of the open sea at the end of February and that these showed a large amount of decomposing seaweed.

According to the ministry of Environment, pollution cannot be the cause of these deaths. ?Pollution would have killed small fish first.? However, fishermen are convinced that the porpoises didn?t survive the recent heavy rains, which have leached a lot of fertilizers and pesticides into the sea. Members of the Albion Fisheries Research Centre (AFRC) believe that pollution may have caused the deaths but they are taking the toxic seaweed theory seriously.

The bodies of these porpoises have been sent to Mare Chicose to be incinerated. The reason for the deaths of these marine mammals will have to be discovered very soon to prevent other untimely deaths. There are others still in the lagoon; the question is, why don?t they go back to the open sea? If they remain in the lagoon, they could well face the same fate as the ones who died.

Suzon Apollon, a fisherman who knows much about marine life and considers the incident to be a ?crime?, thinks there is only one solution for these surviving porpoises: we should find some means of driving them back into the open sea.