Restaurant owner to retrieve prized fish that were seized

PORTLAND, Maine --A restaurant owner is reclaiming his prized koi fish from a Portsmouth (New Hampshire) pet store.

Maine fish and game officials seized the fish from restaurant owner Cuong Ly (koo-ONG LEE) last summer. State officials said they were on display and violated a state law prohibiting the importation and possession of koi.

They were removed from a display in Ly's China Rose Restaurant in Freeport. In December, the state issued Ly a one-year permit allowing him to retrieve the koi. He's since gotten the O-K to put them on display.

Associated Press