Following the freeing of a whale stuck in shark nets at Noosa on Queensland's Sunshine Coast there are renewed calls for the removal of the nets.
The juvenile humpback whale, seven-to-eight metres long, was spotted tangled in nets off Noosa Main Beach about 6am.
A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) said a team had been working to cut the whale free since 8:00am.
Noosa local Tom Loubardi was among a crowd of onlookers watching the rescue operation from the Noosa Spit this morning through the lens of this drone.
"It's very sad … very bad," he said.
"I've been in Noosa for a year and last year at this exact time on the same exact shark net I saw another whale get caught.
"I just watched the whale be free and swim away."
Local resident and Sea Shepherd volunteer Daniel Ladd-Hudson was on the beach as the whale was being released.
"It looked as if it was very, very tired, and [we] expect it would have been there overnight, which is really distressing for us, and obviously for the whale as well," he said.
"It was a big exercise to free her.
"There was a lot of netting around the whale, and the people that freed her did an excellent job and we're very appreciative of that."
A DAF spokesman said the shark net would be replaced and the whale appeared to be fine.
More entanglements likely in the coming weeks
Humpback whales have begun the migration south to their feeding grounds and rest in near-shore waters on their journey, says Olaf Meynecke from Griffith University's Coastal and Marine Research Centre.
"Often the whales drift into the nets overnight," he said.
"We just had a whale caught in a shark net on the Gold Coast … there will be more whales caught and injured in shark nets in the coming weeks."
Dr Meynecke says that because there is no monitoring or tracking of whales after they are released from shark nets, their chances of survival are unknown.
Renewed calls to remove nets
Mr Ladd-Hudson said this was not the first time he witnessed a whale entanglement at Noosa.
"We saw the same experience one year ago, and last year it was both the mother and the calf," he said.
"We don't want to see it anymore here on our beautiful Sunshine Coast."
Sea Shepherd's threatened and endangered species campaigner Lauren Sandeman is calling for shark nets to be removed from Queensland beaches during whale migration season.
"There's no justification for why this traumatic event had to happen today, and there is no basis for allowing this to continue," she said.
"Quite frankly, [the fact] that we are seeing these events occur back to back and nothing is being done about them is disgusting and deplorable."
Marine biologist and senior shark campaigner Lawrence Chlebeck said there were ways to improve Queensland's shark management program.
"This program began in 1962 – so we've had more than 60 years of progress in our understanding of shark behaviour and progress in technology and there are ways to improve the program right now," he said.
"I am not just talking for wildlife and Queensland's marine ecosystem but also for Queensland's public safety.
"We've got drone surveillance and personal shark deterrent … so many ways that can be actioned immediately to improve that program."
