BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 31, 2024
Gillnets have been illegal on Maine’s fresh water for decades. There’s a good reason. They kill not only the species the person is trying to catch but any fish not small enough to swim through the net’s holes. The net holes are big enough for the fish to get its head through, but it cannot get back out because its gills get hung up on the net. That’s why when a gillnet with dead fish in it was found discarded on the bank of the Magalloway River — one of Maine’s premier trout rivers — people were outraged.