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Efforts are underway to find and rescue a humpback whale that has been spotted entangled in a length of rope and floats off Port Macquarie, on the New South Wales mid north coast.
According to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, it is one of four humpback whales to have been reported entangled off the northern NSW coastline this King's Birthday long weekend.
Photographer Alex McNaught captured drone footage and photos of the whale off Port Macquarie late Sunday.
"I was called in by National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the local whale spotter to go with the drone and get detailed imagery … used by them to assess the nature of the entanglement," he said.
"It had an entanglement around its right pectoral fin.
"It was a length of rope with three buoys, so it was swimming slowly north."
Mr McNaught said it was too late in the day for the NPWS to launch a rescue boat yesterday, and today efforts to relocate the whale had so far been unsuccessful.
"None of us want to see an animal in distress. It's a large, beautiful animal and it's been affected by our actions on the water," Mr McNaught said.
Britt Anderson from the NPWS marine wildlife team said volunteers were monitoring the coastline for any further sightings of the entangled whale, with crews on standby to assist the animal.
"We have had lots of volunteers out on headlands trying to resight that animal, also Marine Rescue have eyes on the water," Ms Anderson said.
"Looking at the drone footage imagery, that actual entanglement looks quite complex.
"It's potentially through the mouth of the animal which means the ability of the animal to free itself from that would be almost near impossible.
"[It would] definitely take one of our skilled crews to do that."
Four entangled whales this weekend
Ms Anderson said the whale off Port Macquarie was one of four reported entangled during the past few days, with others reported off Blueys Beach and Boomerang Beach, near Forster, and one off the NSW far north coast, at Kingscliff.
The whale spotted off Boomerang Beach was also later seen off Port Macquarie, and was entangled in a shark drum line.
Fortunately, it freed itself of the entanglement.
"The drum lines are designed so that if something does swim into them, they have a weak point that breaks, so the equipment can release itself," Ms Anderson said.
"So that whale has managed to free itself from the equipment and swim away successfully."
Ms Anderson said the other entangled whales were also yet to be located again.
"It's very concerning … it's never a nice thing to see and obviously where we can we do our best to free these animals," she said.
"Statistically speaking we have an expectation this might happen because the humpback whale population has increased so much.
"So we are likely to see more animals entangled because there's more of them in the ocean."
Jessica Fox from the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) encouraged people to report any sightings of whales in distress, but not to get too close to the animals.
"We remind everyone there are strict exclusion zones around all whales," she said.
"Depending on whether there is a calf present or not, it is between 100 metres and 300 metres. It's also 100 metres for drones.
"If you see a whale in trouble, the best thing is to report the sighting to ORRCA."