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Mr. Joseph Michael Howlett

Wilson's Beach, New Brunswick, Canada

Meritorious Service Decorations - Civil Division

  • Meritorious Service Cross

    Awarded on: 2020-03-18
    Invested on: 2025-07-31
    Terris Greene, M.S.C. Joseph Michael Howlett, M.S.C. (posthumous) Wilson’s Beach, New Brunswick Mackie Greene and the late Joe Howlett founded the Campobello Whale Rescue Team, a specially trained, volunteer-based organization that disentangles whales from fishing gear in the waters of Atlantic Canada. Untangling distressed creatures up to 20 metres long and 70 tonnes in weight is extremely dangerous; on July 10, 2017, Joe lost his life when he was crushed by the flukes of a whale he had just freed. Mackie and the rest of the team continue the work he was passionate about, dedicating themselves to the conservation of threatened and endangered marine mammals.