Joe Howlett was extremely well respected in his small community. Photo: Tyler Howlett
Here’s a man who lived life with passion. Hopefully, his tombstone says something to that effect because Joe Howlett, a Canadian crab fisherman by trade turned whale rescuer, certainly lived that way.
Howlett, who founded a whale rescue group on his native Campobello Island, New Brunswick (the Campobello Whale Rescue Team), was killed after working to free a whale that had become entangled in a mass of nets in the Atlantic near his home. He was apparently onboard a government response boat helping the Department of Fisheries with an entrapment. After setting the whale free, it kicked awkwardly and Howlett was struck by the animal, according to the BBC. He died almost instantly.
The large mammal was a North Atlantic right whale and according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there are only 500 left on the earth. Seven dead right whales were apparently found in the Gulf of St Lawrence in June. The animals are gigantic. Some grow to as long as 50 feet and weigh 70 tons.
Friends and co-workers estimate that Howlett had saved over two dozen whales entangled in nets in the last 15 years, something he did with a fierce passion. “They got the whale totally disentangled and then some kind of freak thing happened and the whale made a big flip,” said Mackie Green, Howlett’s partner on the rescue team. “Joe definitely would not want us to stop because of this. This is something he loved and there’s no better feeling than getting a whale untangled, and I know how good he was feeling after cutting that whale clear.”
Campobello Island is right on the US border and with just 850 residents, it’s a tight community. “Everybody knew Joe Howlett and everybody respected Joe Howlett… it’s a big blow,” Stephen Smart, the towns mayor told the CBC.
