The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Operation Game Thief, in coordination with the Maine Warden Service offering a $2,000 reward for information on whomever cast an illegal net in premier Maine trout river.
An angler discovered an illegal gillnet set up in one of Maine’s premier trout fishing waterways on Monday along the banks of the Magalloway River off Route 16 in Lincoln Plantation, according to Mark Latti, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
When game wardens arrived to investigate, they found two large brook trout entangled in the net along with several other species of fish, Latti said Wednesday morning.
It’s not known how long the net was set up in the Magalloway River, which Latti described as “one of Maine’s premier trout streams,” or how many fish had been taken before its discovery.
The net was approximately 36 feet and 9 feet deep, which Latti said could stretch across a “significant portion” of the Magalloway River.
Latti said the use of gillnets is illegal, saying they are “lethal” to fish populations. Any fish that become entrapped in a gillnet are usually killed as a result.
A gillnet is a wall of netting that sinks into the water. The holes in the net are big enough just to allow the fish to get its head through, and as the fish struggles to free itself, it becomes more entangled. The net will catch on a fish’s gills as it tries to back out, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Fisheries Service.
“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,” Latti said in a statement.
The reward was doubled on Thursday, up from a $1,000 reward initially offered on Wednesday.
Anyone with information about who set up this gillnet can contact Operation Game Thief at 1-800-ALERT-US, submit a tip using the Maine OGT app “Tip 411” or through the website at maineogt.org.
BDN writer Chris Burns contributed to this report.
