LINCOLN PLANTATION, Maine — Maine Operation Game Thief (Maine OGT) and the Maine Warden Service are seeking information after an illegal gillnet was found Monday along the Magalloway River.
Maine OGT is offering a $2,000 reward for information regarding who set the illegal net.
The river in northern Oxford County is considered "one of Maine's premier trout streams," according to a Wednesday news release from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW). Game wardens were notified Monday by a concerned angler, who reportedly noticed the net along the riverbank near the bridge on Route 16.
A gillnet is a fishing net that is hung vertically so fish get trapped in it by their gills. The use of a gillnet is illegal in Maine and lethal to fish populations, according to wildlife officials.
Wardens responded to the call and located the net, which had "two large dead brook trout entangled in it, along with several other species of fish," the release stated. Officials said they didn't know how long the net had been there or how many fish may have been taken before it was located.
"The gillnet was approximately 36 feet long and 9 feet deep. Gillnets kill whatever becomes entrapped in the net, and the size of this net could stretch across a significant portion of the river," the release stated.
On Wednesday, Maine OGT was offering a $1,000 reward for any information that could lead to an arrest in this incident. Maine OGT has now doubled the reward, offering $2,000 following a donation from a concerned citizen in the area, according to a Thursday news release from the MDIFW.
Anyone with information can contact Operation Game Thief at 1-800-ALERT-US, or submit a tip online using the Maine OGT app “Tip 411” or through the website.
"The Magalloway River is one of Maine’s premiere native brook trout fisheries. Maine Game Wardens and MDIFW Fisheries staff are alarmed by this illegal net set and the risk it poses to trout in the Magalloway River," the MDIFW stated.