This is the moment a Canadian fisherman and his friends saved a sea lion pup who was trapped in a large ball of fishing nets.

The clip, filmed in April 2015 in Canada, shows the moment a group of fishermen spotted a small sea lion struggling to survive after becoming trapped in a large ball of discarded commercial fishing nets.

The filmer, Ken Hobbs told Newsflare: “We noticed this little guy tangled up in the mess. Not able to swim properly or submerge, he was just floating along with this large mat of commercial fishing net around its neck.

“Taking him to shore wasn't an option with the steep rock walls and we were about an hour run at near full speed from the fishing lodge. We had to bring him on board and cut the netting off.

“After getting it free, it seemed to understand we meant it no harm and appeared happy to hang around on the bow of the boat for a bit. Rather than take a chance of it entering the boat further, where it would not be able to exit on its own and could panic and again present a risk of bite contact with one of us.

“After forcing it back into the water, it did a couple of barrel rolls, stopped for a look back at us and swam away. It was happy and so were we!”