FISHERMAN NETS MERMAID – AND EATS HER!

HE THOUGHT SHE WAS A DOLPHIN

Longtime angler John Henreed is facing tremendous pressure to hang up his lures and nets. His poor vision caused him to make a grisly mistake — he netted a mermaid and ate her for dinner!

“I didn’t know,” says the distraught fisherman. He has fished the waters near Tiverton, Nova Scotia, for more than half a century. “I didn’t have my glasses on that day. I have a hard time seeing anything these days. Unless it’s far away.

“But I’ve been catching haddock, cod and lobster here all my life and nothing like this has ever happened before.”

The nightmare began when the severely farsighted 73-year-old set out alone in the Bay of Fundy to catch some haddock. Henreed, who runs a small seafood market on the wharf, was fishing for pleasure that day. He was out on his 28-foot boat, coincidentally named Ariel – after Disney’s famous animated mermaid.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Because of Henreeed’s falling sight, his 30-year-old son was scheduled to accompany him. But a change of plans forced the older Henreed to cast off alone.

“I saw something shimmering in the water, something big.” the angler explains.

“I was thinking it was Blue Fin. Though, I was sure it was the biggest ever to be seen in the bay. So I cast my net and waited.”

It wasn’t long before his catch became entangled in a web of death. He began pulling in his catch. But horrified onlookers on a nearby pleasure boat frantically fired off flares to get his attention. They watched helplessly as the long-tailed blonde beautiy flailed desperately in the net.

“The locals’ caller her Bella,” says a grief-stricken Carol Beecham, who witnessed, the doomed mermaid’s final moments.

“We tried to get over to him. But by the time we reached the Ariel, Henreed was wiping his chin with his napkin.”

Authorities have not determined whether to file charges against Henreed. There is no specific statute in Nova Scotia law that addresses the killing and cannibalism of a mermaid.

“Our hands are tied here,” says local police chief Gary Emberlock.

“This is a small town. we know John would. never hurt someone on purpose, and Bella wasn’t technically a person, but the whole situation just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”

“Actually,” says Henreed, “she kind of tasted like chicken.”