R.I. Gen. Laws § 20-12-1: Cultivation of inland fish.

The department of environmental management shall be empowered to introduce, protect, and cultivate fish in the inland waters of the state, and to construct, maintain, and operate fish cultivation and breeding facilities and undertake fish cultivation projects within the state as may be, in the opinion of the director, appropriate. The director may take fish from the fisheries of the state for any purpose connected with fish culture or for scientific observation.