Video footage showing the moments leading up to Kaikoura man Tom Smith's death while trying to help a stricken humpback whale was shown at a Kaikoura inquest at the weekend.
Thomas Brent Smith, 38, died when he was hit by the whale's tail while trying to free the mammal from a craypot line near Shark's Tooth Reef off South Bay on June 16. His body has not been found.
During the inquest the public gallery of Kaikoura District Court was packed with friends and family members of Mr Smith and his wife, Claudine.
"The circumstances of Tom Smith's death are tragic," coroner David Crerar said. "He was a loved father, husband, friend."
The court was shown video footage of the fishing charter operator in the water swimming around the whale trying to cut the craypot line off. The footage was shot by a tourist on a Whale Watch Kaikoura boat.
After Mr Smith had been in the water for only a few minutes the whale's tail could be seen splashing down hard, and Mr Smith disappeared.
In his evidence, read in court, Whale Watch skipper Chevelli Allen said the Wheketere was leaving South Bay at 10.45am when two people flagged it down and said a whale was caught in a craypot line.
Within half an hour of hearing about the whale, Mr Smith arrived in his boat, and jumped into the sea with his wetsuit and scuba gear. He waited a few minutes then swam over to the whale and got out his knife to start cutting the lines.
The whale then "lobtailed", bringing down its tail on top of Mr Smith.
The Department of Conservation's Kaikoura field centre supervisor, Mike Morrissey, said there were procedures in place for dealing with whale entanglement.
On a couple of occasions Mr Smith had helped DoC staff free trapped humpback whales and had received safety briefings.
"Since the death of Tom, DoC has reviewed the guidelines for dealing with trapped whales and new guidelines will be produced," Mr Morrissey said.
Mr Crerar asked if DoC had looked at limiting craypot lines. Mr Morrissey said it had not because the craypot lines ran right along the coast.
In his preliminary finding, Mr Crerar found Mr Smith had died after either being struck by the whale's tail, or by drowning.
- NZPA
Video shows last minutes of diver trying to help whale
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