The mother of a 23-year-old British man who died after being bitten by a sea snake in Australia has said her son was “living his dream” while working on a fishing boat.

Harry Evans, from Poole, Dorset, was bitten as he pulled up a net while working off Groote Eylandt, 400 miles east of Darwin, on Thursday afternoon.

Northern Territory police said a helicopter crew had been scrambled and the trawler made its way to Borroloola, inland from the Gulf of Carpentaria, where Evans was pronounced dead.

His mother, Sharon Evans, told the Press Association: “We know Harry was bitten by a snake and died.

“No more details are available. Harry was not a backpacker; he was working in a job he loved and was living his dream.

“He had contact with his family and friends at home regularly and couldn’t have been any more loved. We couldn’t have been prouder of him.”

A friend, George Jackson-Carter, posted on Facebook: “RIP Harry Evans, you were one of the most kind hearted and funniest people I’ve ever met. Always made everyone laugh and smile.”

All known species of sea snake are venomous and “produce some of the most dangerous venoms know in the animal kingdom”, the Marine Education Society of Australia said. They grow to between 120cm and 150cm but can get as long as three metres, and are not considered aggressive.

They tend to be found in tropical and subtropical waters through south-east Asia, the western Pacific and northern Australia.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who had died in the Northern Territory and are in contact with the Australian authorities.”

It is the second death of a British man while working on a fishing boat in the north of the country in five years. In November 2013 20-year-old Ryan Donoghue was electrocuted while using a power tool when a wave washed on deck as a boat returned to Cairns.