Restaurant Is Accused of Selling Bass Illegally For years, diners have come to Francesco's in Babylon, N.Y., for its menu of homemade pasta dishes, oven-baked bread and fresh seafood. But police officers with the state Department of Environmental Conservation recently took a special interest in one entree: the striped bass. The department received an anonymous tip. The owner of the longtime Long Island pizzeria and restaurant, Frank Genovas, was said to be illegally selling striped bass. Such tips come in all the time, Capt. Timothy Huss said. But this one stood out. "The owner of the restaurant, he's known to be a very active recreational fisherman," Captain Huss said. So of course it piqued our interest. Heavy regulations accompany the catching of striped bass, a species that once faced extinction from overfishing. Every year, commercial fishermen are issued a limited number of tags, to apply to every striped bass they take out of the water. For every two striped bass fillets a commercial fisherman might have, the associated carcass must be maintained as proof that the fish was not illegally obtained. Captain Huss assigned officers to watch the restaurant. On Oct. 16, the officers saw a worker take a big striped bass from a pickup truck behind the restaurant and carry it in. "And that's when we moved in," Captain Huss said. In the kitchen, officers saw Mr. Genovas filleting a striped bass. "The evidence was there, clear," Captain Huss said. That night's special was fresh-caught bass. Environmental conservation officers seized 60 pounds of untagged striped bass from Francesco's. Mr. Genovas was cited for four misdemeanor-level violations: possession of untagged striped bass, taking striped bass without a commercial striped bass permit, failing to have a food fish license, and failing to keep the associated carcasses. Mr. Genovas said in an interview on Friday that none of the accusations were true. "I will show the D.A. proof, and it will all be squashed," Mr. Genovas said. He is scheduled to appear in First District Court in Islip on Dec. 11. "That's what we eat for lunch," Mr. Genovas said of the confiscated striped bass. How does the D.E.C. have the right to say he can't cook his local catch for his employees? That's no proof, to go to the menu and see bass. It was Chilean bass, bought elsewhere, being served that night, he said. Mr. Genovas said that for customers, he bought his striped bass from a commercial seafood purveyor. The charges carry a penalty of up to $20,000 and up to four years in jail. "It's terrible," said Mr. Genovas, 53. Is it fair for a guy like me, who's been there 33 years, to embarrass the hell out of me? Mr. Genovas said he started the business, on John Street, right after high school. He has been fishing for about 10 years, and said he regularly cooked his catch for friends and staff members, at no charge, in his restaurant. "I don't know what kind of fine that is," he said. I'm not going to bring it home with scales all over my house. The officers said that in Francesco's, Mr. Genovas had three untagged striped bass in one cooler, and 23 pounds of striped bass fillets in portion sizes in another. "We suspect he was catching a lot of them himself," said Captain Huss, "which you can't do either." Even for striped bass he caught himself, Captain Huss said, Mr. Genovas would face charges for lacking tags, permits or the carcasses. Captain Huss said that public health was also at issue. "That's another reason why there might be some concern," he said. Fish being served in a place like this that are not in compliance. Striped bass was on the menu at Francesco's this week. "It's kind of a gray area," Mr. Genovas said, referring to cooking his own catch for his friends and employees. But if I can't do it, I can't do it. I won't do it no more.