THE CORAL REEFS along the west coast are being battered by pollutants coming from the hotels, restaurants and other developments. Reefs once covered with moss and sea life like urchins and coral, now lay bare, as white as bed sheets.

Canadian-born John Lewis is not happy about the situation and he has every reason not to be. Back in 1954 Professor Lewis, a lecturer in the Biology Department at McGill University, came to Barbados to set up the Bellairs Research Institute, located between the Coral Reef Club and Folkestone at St. James and although he returned to Montreal-based McGill in 1970, he has been visiting Barbados annually, sometimes two or three times a year.

Last week the marine biologist was once more on the west coast beach. With diving gear properly adjusted, he plunged into the sea off the Bellairs and was soon over and among his favourite reefs.

Ever since he became the institute's first director, he has been following its progress. And although he left Barbados 23 years ago he has never ceased to keep track of the fortunes of Bellairs. He recalls that Bellairs was set up so that McGill could establish a research station in the tropics. And Barbados was selected because the property, then owned by Commander Carlyon Bellairs, was given to the university for research purposes. Professor Lewis has seen the institute grow tremendously since 1954 and he says it is now very active in fisheries research and in pollution research and things like that.

Observes the veteran marine biologist: "There has been a lot of deterioration of the reefs since 1954 when I first came to Barbados. I guess various forms of pollution have taken their toll." He recalls: "In the beginning we worked on sea eggs. We have been trying to influence fishermen not to interfere with the sea eggs during the breeding season."

Since then the institute has moved on to other projects like the tagging of flying fish and the preservation of the hawksbill turtle.  Says Dr. Lewis: "The institute has been making the public aware of the need to preserve the turtle population and to try to replenish it by releasing young turtles into the sea."

He adds: "We don't have museum facilities here but we have encouraged the marine museum at Folkestone by providing any help we can possibly offer. Although we do not have any formal connection, the institute works closely with the museum in respect to the Folkestone Underwater Park. It was one of the things that the institute helped to established some years ago."

Every year Professor Lewis goes down and looks at the underwater park. He says: "It is developing and the fish population has increased because of the restrictions on spearfishing and fishing in the park; the fish population has increased, a lot of nice big chubs are visible right now."

He feels that underwater parks could be established in other parts of the island, it was only a question of policing them.

He explains: "To establish a park, the Government would need only to set up the necessary regulations for it. We marked out the limits of the present one. There are now signs around the coast saying this is a park. And the fishermen now respect it."

The Folkestone Underwater Park is a formation of natural reefs. But Professor Lewis observes that there were a lots of countries where man-made reefs were established and suggests: "We could do more of this here in Barbados. I suppose there are a lot of old car bodies around and these could be used."

Right now, he says, Bellairs was used by many departments of McGill and by other universities as well. "The people at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill campus, also use the facilities extensively. And other Canadian and even British universities as well."

Looking back on his early efforts, he says: "The first thing I worked on was the sea egg. At the time there were already regulations in force regarding the harvesting of the sea egg and I got the utmost cooperation from the Government's Fisheries Officer, Dudley Wiles (he died earlier this year)."