A tangled humpback whale has been freed off the NSW Central Coast at Norah Head.
Rescue crews worked for several hours to untangle the whale at Soldiers Beach after it was “severely” caught in marine debris involving a rope and buoys.
Despite difficult and risky conditions in the water, Marine Rescue crews and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service’s whale disentanglement team worked together to cut the spoilage and release the whale around 4.30pm on Tuesday, June 6.
Marine Rescue crews from Newcastle and Lake Macquarie were called to the scene around 12.30pm to assist with the incident.
“The Marine Rescue NSW vessels play the role of mothership by carrying the NPWS crew and equipment,” Marine Rescue NSW Hunter/Central Coast Zone duty operations manager, Courtney Greenslade said.
ORRCA rescue and sesearch group told the Herald they worked closely with NPWS and Marine Rescue to assess the situation and help the whale in the best way possible.
“A large animal moving in a changing environment is really tricky and those elements always changing pose a level of risk but we were all working together,” an ORRCA spokesperson said.
In a separate incident on Saturday, a humpback whale was rescued from a series of lines and floats off Five Islands near Port Kembla.
The whale-watching season recently kicked off across east coast waters on June 1 with constant sightings across Newcastle and the Central Coast.