Rice’s Environmental Crimes Unit Nets Clam Poacher

Felony charges for Suffolk company who overfished clams and attempted to sell polluted shellfish to food wholesalers

MINEOLA, NY - Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a nine-month investigation by her Environmental Crimes Unit and New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation has resulted in criminal charges against a Suffolk County clamming business for overfishing a seaside area of the Atlantic Ocean and attempting to sell polluted oceanic surf clams to food wholesalers in Delaware and New Jersey.

In addition to filing corporate charges against Ocean Fresh Sea Clam, Ltd, in Islip Terrace, Rice’s investigators also arrested the captain of one of the company’s fishing vessels, William Smith, 29, of East Patchogue. Smith surrendered this morning to DA investigators and is expected to be arraigned later today in First District Court, Hempstead.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation enforces the state’s recreational and commercial fishing regulations.  Surf clams are clams found in the ocean buried in the sands of shallow water.  The DEC requires a special permit for the commercial harvesting of surf clams from the Atlantic Ocean.  The regulations establish the quantity of clams that can be harvested to safeguard against the depletion of an area’s clam population.  The DEC certifies areas of water where clams can be harvested and sold for human consumption. The DEC also identifies “polluted” areas of ocean that require clammers to sell the shellfish harvested in these waters for bait only.  This distinction is designed to protect the public health by requiring that clams sold as food are harvested from certified unpolluted areas only.  The DEC also requires weekly reports from commercial harvesters indicating the location and quantity of their most recent harvests.

Rice said that undercover surveillance has established that from September 2007 to January 2008, Ocean Fresh Sea Clam Ltd. operated a clamming vessel out of a rented dock in Freeport.  William Smith, who is the son of the company’s owners, captained the vessel.  Investigators examining surveillance footage, wholesaler invoices, state licenses and permits, and records from the Loop Parkway drawbridge have confirmed that on at least three occasions, Ocean Fresh harvested more than double the weekly DEC-established limit for commercial fishing. The DEC sets the weekly limit at either 21 or 14 cages (32 bushels in a cage).  Rice said that harvesters can sell a bushel of surf clams for between eight and ten dollars to wholesale distributors, meaning that if the operation was consistently doubling their state-imposed limit, the overfishing might net them an extra $7,000 each week (21 cages at $320 per cage). A review of DEC records indicates that to cover their tracks, Ocean Fresh submitted false weekly reports to the agency.

“Rogue fishing operations believe making a profit is more important than protecting our natural resources and it’s time that law enforcement took this threat seriously,” said Rice. “It’s a threat to our habitat, to the honest small business, and to everyone who enjoys Long Island’s natural beauty and unique ecosystem.”

Rice said that undercover surveillance performed on the company also revealed that Ocean Fresh harvested clams from uncertified waters off Breezy Point in Queens, and that the captain, William Smith, unlawfully tagged the clams harvested from these polluted waters as fit for human consumption.  

Surf clams are one of the most widely used forms of bait in the commercial fishing industry and are often found in greater numbers in polluted waters. Rice said that while food and bait clams generally fetch a similar profit on the wholesale market, the company had an incentive to sell the more plentiful bait clams as food during the winter months while the fishing industry’s need for bait clams dwindles.  Rice said that fishing in the more plentiful yet polluted waters allowed the company to spend less time and fewer resources to harvest the native shellfish.

“Harvesting polluted clams is easier, and because it was the winter and commercial fishing was slow, selling them as food clams is the fastest way to make a profit,” said Rice.  “This bait and switch threatens the health of consumers.”

William Smith has been charged with two felony counts of Illegal Commercialization of Fish, Shellfish, Crustaceans and Wildlife and one misdemeanor count of Falsifying Information on Shellfish Tags.   Both crimes are violations of New York State’s Environmental Conservation Law.  The defendant faces a maximum four years in prison and/or a fine of $5,000 if convicted of the felony charges and up to 60 days in jail and/or a fine of $1,000 if found guilty of the misdemeanor count. 

Ocean Fresh Sea Clam, Ltd has been charged with three counts of Offering a False Instrument For Filing in the First Degree, a felony charge that carries a maximum fine of $10,000 if the company is found guilty.  Other potential sanctions include the suspension or revocation of the company’s state permit to harvest surf clams. 

The case began as a result of a tip from a bait clam harvester to the DEC in January 2008.  The investigation was handed over the DA’s office for criminal prosecution review in November 2008.

"Illegal trafficking of shellfish is a serious matter precisely because such activities can produce long-term, detrimental effects to the eco-system and endanger public health," said New York State Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis. "No one wants to see populations of vital species put at risk for short-term profits. We're proud of the work of our officers who worked cooperatively with the District Attorney's office on this investigation."

Handling the case for the DA’s office is Assistant District Attorney Robert Owens of the DA’s Environmental Crimes Unit. Smith and Ocean Fresh Sea Clam, Ltd. are being represented by Anthony Senft, Esq. 

The charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.