Jul 17, 2007 10:23 pm US/Eastern
Whale Sliced By Boat Propeller In NH
RYE, NH (WBZ) ―
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When the sport boat came within 100 feet of the ship, it hit a fin whale as it was coming up for air.
CBS
A whale was injured after a close encounter with a boat in New Hampshire over the weekend.
According to the
Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation, an endangered fin whale was cut by the propeller of a sport boat about 20 miles off the coast on Saturday.
The boat was apparently driving close to a whale watching vessel when the incident occurred. When the boat came within 100 feet of the ship, it hit a fin whale as it was coming up for air.
The Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation reports the boat involved did not stop. When the whale came up for air, whale watchers saw a large gash and several propeller cuts along its side. On Sunday, the driver of the sport boat turned himself in.
Crews say they are going to track the whale and monitor its condition. Updates will be available on their Web site.
The Blue Ocean Society is using this situation to remind boaters to use caution because the boating season does coincide with the movement of the finback, humpback and several other whales and dolphins in the area. "It was horrible to see this happen," said Jen Kennedy, the naturalist on the Atlantic Queen. "However, one good thing that could come out of this is having boaters be more cautious in the area so hopefully this does not happen again."
Harming an endangered species of a whale is a violation and can result in fines up to $50,000, prison time and seizure of a person's vessel.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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