ROCKLAND - A massive search was under way Monday night in the vicinity of Matinicus Island for a boater who had been missing for several hours.

About a dozen local lobster boats, a jet from the Coast Guard station on Cape Cod, a Coast Guard cutter based out of South Portland, Maine Marine Patrol boats, and a P-3 Orion plane out of Brunswick Naval Air Station had been called on to search for 24-year-old Chris Whitaker.

Whitaker, who lives on Matinicus Island, was reported missing at noon on Monday. He was operating a 21-foot pleasure boat.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Joe Tallent, a Coast Guard spokesman in South Portland, said debris from Whitaker's boat was found floating in the waters off Matinicus.

The search was expected to continue through the night. A helicopter from the Coast Guard station on Cape Cod was expected to be called in Tuesday to assist with the search.

Matinicus, which has a year-round population of about 60 people, is located about 12 miles off Vinalhaven, an island in Penobscot Bay.