Marine life was washed up on the toursit destination of Lamu Island

She explained that toxic levels can be influenced by climatic changes.

The WWF representative is however non committal over the mass death of marine wildlife until the final results of the scientific analysis on samples are released.

Fishermen all along the Somalia and northern Kenyan coast are reported to have suspended their operations fearing that their catch could be poisonous.

Eating seafood that has consumed harmful algae can cause food poisoning and in some cases can be life threatening depending on the algae involved.

Pollution problem

Pollution has long been a problem off Kenya's northern coastline, which lies adjacent to Somalia.

Marine expert David Olendo told the BBC's correspondent in Mombasa that the deaths could have been caused by massive pollution near war torn Somalia.

Maritime sources in Mombasa claim that some multinational companies have been dumping toxic waste into the Indian Ocean using the Somali channel.

Kenya's waters is full of various species of fish and other sea wildlife

The sources say that ship captains have been paying ransom money to Somali militia to enable them dump the waste, and the current marine deaths might just be a result of the pollution.

Somalia has lacked an effective national government for more than a decade.

Kenyan fisheries officials confirmed that fish are being washed into Kenya from Somali, but could not confirm whether the Kenyan waters are safe.

A report by several UN agencies in 2000 revealed massive pollution by toxic materials caused by dumping along Somalia's coastline.