Canada fisherman killed by whale moments after rescuing it from net

A Canadian lobster fisherman who saved dozens of endangered whales after they became tangled in fishing nets has been killed – moments after a last successful rescue.

Joe Howlett, from Campobello Island, New Brunswick, boarded a vessel off the province’s eastern coast on Monday to help rescue a north Atlantic right whale that had become heavily tangled in rope.

The rescue was steeped in urgency: in the past month, seven north Atlantic right whales have been found floating lifelessly in the Gulf of St Lawrence, off Canada. With a global population believed to be around 525, the string of deaths suggests that more than 1% of the population has died in recent weeks.

Howlett helped free the whale – only to be struck by the mammal moments later, said Mackie Green of the Campobello Whale Rescue Team. “They got the whale totally disentangled and then some kind of freak thing happened and the whale made a big flip,” Green, who was not onboard the vessel, told the Canadian Press.

Howlett had previously saved some two dozen whales over the past 15 years, making use of his deep knowledge of knots and ropes to set the huge mammals free.

Just a few days before his death, Howlett had helped liberate another north Atlantic right whale in the region, cutting away a fishing line caught in its mouth

Source: Canada fisherman killed by whale moments after rescuing it from net | World news | The Guardian