DEM NOTIFIED THAT SALMON HAVE BEEN STOCKED IN BEACH POND

PROVIDENCE - Rhode Island anglers fishing at Beach Pond may be in for a pleasant surprise this year. The Department of Environmental Management's Division of Fish and Wildlife has been notified by Connecticut colleagues that 160 broodstock Atlantic salmon were stocked in mid-October in Beach Pond, on the western Rhode Island Connecticut border, by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection's Inland Fisheries Division.

Connecticut officials say that low stream flows at that time in that state's Shetucket River, where salmon are usually stocked, necessitated the change of location, although they hope to stock the Shetucket later in the season. (For Connecticut's news release on the subject, go to www.ct.gov/dep, click on "In the News," and find the press release for October 16.)

Anglers should note that in Rhode Island, a current fishing license and a Trout Conservation Stamp are required to keep or possess a salmon. The daily creel and possession limit for domestic Atlantic salmon is two fish per angler per day and that fish much be 15 inches or greater. In Connecticut, however, that limit is one salmon.

Anglers should also remember that, for health reasons, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency, recommends that those eating stocked salmon in land locked ponds restrict themselves to one meal per month.