LINCOLN PLANATION — The reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for putting an illegal gillnet in the Magalloway River in the northern Oxford County territory was doubled Thursday.

An illegal gillnet is stretched out Monday after being discovered in the Magalloway River in Lincoln Plantation in northern Oxford County with dead trout and other fish trapped in it. Maine Operation Game Thief is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for setting it, Mark Latti, communications director for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said Thursday. Maine Warden Service photo

Mark Latti, communications director for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, wrote in a news release that Operation Game Thief, working with the Maine Warden Service, is now offering a $2,000 reward. “The additional reward was donated by a concerned citizen in the area.”

The Maine Warden Service continues to seek information regarding the crime and has received several tips that they are investigating, he said.

“Game Wardens have been boating and flying over the Magalloway and other area rivers and ponds to see if there were other nets that may have been set, and have interviewed multiple people in the area,” he wrote. “Game wardens are also working with New Hampshire Fish and Game conservation officers as part of the Magalloway River flows through and straddles the border with New Hampshire.”

The effort is the result of an angler who contacted the Warden Service on Monday after noticing the gillnet while fishing the river near the Route 16 bridge. The net had two large dead brook trout entangled in it, along with several other species of fish. It is unknown how long the net had been set in the river, or how many fish may have been taken before the net was located, Latti said.

The Magalloway River is one of Maine’s premier native brook trout fisheries.

The gillnet was about 36 feet long and 9 feet deep.

Gillnets kill whatever becomes entrapped in them, and the size of this net could stretch across a significant portion of the river, Latti said.

Anyone with information regarding this crime is asked to call 1-800-ALERT-US with any information.