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August 6, 2007

Restaurateur accused of violating shell-fishing ban

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- The state Department of Environmental Management today charged the owner of the China Buffet in East Greenwich with harvesting clams from the Narrow River’s polluted waters.

The owner, Brian K. Cheng, of Scituate, said the clams were for personal use. The state Department of Health found no signs of questionable shellfish being served at the restaurant after an inspection, a spokeswoman said.

DEM’s environmental police received a call around 8:15 a.m. that several men were shellfishing in restricted waters south of Middle Bridge, officer Stephen Alfonso said. Officers discovered Cheng and his friends had dug about 12 gallons of quahogs and a few oysters from flats on the west side of Narrow River.

DEM prohibits shellfishing on the Pettaquamscutt, or Narrow, River because of pollution, Alfonso said.

Officers seized a large Kikkoman Soy Sauce bucket brimming with quahogs and two other buckets that were partially filled with shellfish.

Cheng, 38, of 110 Scituate Ave., Hope, was charged with shellfishing in a closed area; possession of undersized blue crabs; and taking oysters out of season, Alfonso said.

Cheng said he and his friends from church intended to go crabbing on the river, which DEM permits as long as the shell is five inches across. He was not aware that clamming was not allowed and did not plan to serve any of the shellfish at his restaurant, he said. He had been there once before to crab.

“There’s no way we would do anything like that,” said Cheng, who is originally from China and has owned China Buffet for 14 years. “Every clam we sell in the restaurant has a tag.”

He first said that they had dug the clams for a party at his house. Later, he said that his friends were going to split the shellfish and that he wasn’t planning to take any at all.

“It’s the stupidest thing I ever did,” Cheng said.

-- Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

DEM notified the Department of Health, which sent two inspectors to the 1000 Division St. restaurant, said Andrea Bagnall-Degos, Health Department spokeswoman.

“They didn’t find anything there that looked questionable,” she said. “They think he may have been doing it for personal use,” such as a party.

The inspectors were awaiting an arrest report from DEM to make a final determination, she said.

August 6, 2007

Restaurateur accused of violating shell-fishing ban

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