Restaurateur says he’ll plead guilty in fish case

FREEPORT – The owner of a local restaurant whose koi fish were confiscated by the state said he will plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge today rather than continue to wage what’s already turned into an expensive legal battle.

“I give up,” said Cuong Ly, owner of the China Rose Restaurant. “I’m going to wave the white flag.”

Ly said he will enter his plea to a charge of importation of fish without a permit in Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland. The plea agreement will cost him $1,000, which would be on top of the $9,000 he’s already spent fighting the charges.

Ly regards the koi fish as part of his family and a source of good luck for his business. But state officials said they could be a threat to native species if released.

A Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife review panel has voted to allow Cuong to keep his fish, with conditions. They would have to be fitted with microchips and couldn’t be sold, traded, given away or bred. Also, the fish can’t be put on public display.

The koi are about a foot long and colored with bright splashes of white, orange, red and black. They have been kept at the Little Shop of Pets in Portsmouth, N.H., pending the outcome of the case against Ly.