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Maine to Get Special Boat for Disentangling Whales

AUGUSTA, Maine - The Maine Department of Marine Resources will use a $20,000 grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund to help buy a special boat to disentangle whales who get tied up in fishing gear off the coast.

Jeff Nichols, of the DMR, says that a rubber bottom boat is safer for both whales and for people trying to rescue them.
 
"Having a soft hull inflatable allows the boat to form to the whale itself, so it makes injury to the whale much less likely," Nichols says. "A hard hull is also less likely to tip if a whale gets underneath it."

Nichols says the department gets about a dozen calls a year about trapped whales.

Nora is originally from the Boston area but has lived in Chicago, Michigan, New York City and at the northern tip of New York state. Nora began working in public radio at Michigan Radio in Ann Arbor and has been an on-air host, a reporter, a digital editor, a producer, and, when they let her, played records.