ROQUE BLUFFS, ME (AP)— The stench from piles of dead herring stretching hundreds of yards along the shore of Sanford Cove has forced residents of this coastal community to shut their homes tight.

The fish started washing ashore a week ago, and the Maine Marine Patrol is investigating the cause of the mass fish death.

"We're not used to this,'' said Vicki Kelley, whose parents own a golf course across the road from the cove. "It makes you want to move.''

Lucille Sinford, her mother, said the stink has hurt business.

"Yesterday, our golfers started leaving,'' Sinford said. "We never have an odor off the clam flats. It's always been so clean.''

One family whose house overlooks the cove erected plastic owls on the roof to scare off the hordes of gulls.

The kill hasn't been bad for everyone. Lobstermen who use herring as bait have showed up to load handfuls of free feed into buckets.

Darrell Richards, who lives on the cove just east of the Sinfords, said a fisherman friend picked up 45 buckets on Sunday afternoon. With bait going for $10 a bucket, that's $450 saved — if you can put up with the smell.