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.