A rescue operation is underway to free a juvenile humpback whale after it became entangled in a fishing net.
A whale watching cruise first spotted the animal outside of the The Heads, near Sydney Harbour, about 1.20pm on Thursday.
Wildlife rescue group OORCA were contacted to help the whale which swam into the harbour, near Shark Island, before it was tagged with a GPS tracker.
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services sent three vessels to work on freeing the poor animal from the 50m-long fish trap tangled around its tail.
The rescue effort was abandoned at dusk to be picked up at first light on Friday with help from the GPS tracker to locate the whale.
OORCA alerted the public on Wednesday to three seperate humpback whales entangled in nets travelling between Newcastle and Tweed Heads.
‘The behaviour of entangled whales can be unpredictable and they can change directions of travel,’ OORCA wrote on Facebook.
‘As such we are asking for anyone who can get out on headlands between Newcastle and Tweed Heads to please keep a lookout for these whales.’
One of those whale’s was seen towing five buoys, the same as the animal trapped in Sydney Harbour, south past Newcastle on Wednesday.
OORCA’s president, Ashley Ryan, said the whale trapped in Sydney Harbour was ‘a bit erratic in its behaviour’.
Ms Ryan said it had returned to open water before last being seen swimming into the harbour.
‘Hopefully the conditions are favourable and the tracker works and the whale is freed nice and early in the morning,’ she said, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
More to come.