This is the heartwarming moment kind fishermen freed a pair of whales caught in their fishing net in the Philippines.

The trawlers leapt into the water to release the marine creatures after they were trapped in the mesh net while the villagers were fishing off the coast of Mariveles town in Bataan province on October 4.

Footage shows the men tugging the whales across the net's buoys, allowing them to swim into the open sea.

Fisherman Joel Tabiano said: 'We needed to release the whales. We're not allowed to catch them.'

The International Whaling Commission said that bycatch or incidental capture is the 'single, most serious direct threat' to cetaceans such as dolphins, whales, and porpoises.

An estimated 300,000 cetaceans around the world are killed as bycatch yearly, the commission said.

This is the heartwarming moment kind fishermen freed a pair of whales caught in their fishing net in the Philippines.

The trawlers leapt into the water to release the marine creatures after they were trapped in the mesh net while the villagers were fishing off the coast of Mariveles town in Bataan province on October 4.

Footage shows the men tugging the whales across the net's buoys, allowing them to swim into the open sea.

Fisherman Joel Tabiano said: 'We needed to release the whales. We're not allowed to catch them.'

The International Whaling Commission said that bycatch or incidental capture is the 'single, most serious direct threat' to cetaceans such as dolphins, whales, and porpoises.

An estimated 300,000 cetaceans around the world are killed as bycatch yearly, the commission said.