New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
Contact: Mark Madsen, (575) 624-6135
mark.madsen@state.nm.us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, AUG. 4, 2008:

REWARD OFFERED FOR TROUT THIEVES

SANTA ROSA -- The Department of Game and Fish is offering a $350 reward for information about the theft and illegal stocking of about 65 rainbow trout from Rock Lake Fish Hatchery sometime Thursday night or early Friday.

The trout were taken from a hatchery raceway and then stocked in the Blue Hole, a deep, spring-fed lake popular with scuba divers but fatal to fish because of its low oxygen content. All of the trout were found dead Friday morning. The Blue Hole has an oxygen content of 1.1 parts per million. Rainbow trout need at least 6 parts per million to survive.

Anyone with information about the incident is urged to call Operation Game Thief toll-free, (800) 432-4263. Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward if information leads to charges being filed.
  

###