Whale freed from fishing line in 'unprecedented' entanglement spike

Whale rescue crews in New South Wales say they experienced an "unprecedented" weekend of entanglements along the state's coast, including the successful release of a humpback tangled in fishing lines on the Central Coast.

The Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia, commonly known as ORRCA, were called by a member of the public who spotted the whale with fishing gear on its tail off Forrester's Beach between Terrigal and Bateau Bay.

ORRCA spokesperson Pip Jacobs told ABC Central Coast Breakfast the rescue was a "huge team effort" including the use of drone monitoring.

"This was a really tricky one because the whale had a very compromised tail fluke because of the entanglement, so it wasn't lifting its tail out of the water," she said.

"The team really persevered for the afternoon and managed to release it from all the line."

Ms Jacobs said the weekend was incredibly busy for the organisation, with several whales in trouble along the NSW coast.

"We actually had five entanglements across the New South Wales coastline," she said.

"A lot of ORRCA and national parks teams were actually at a live stranding on Stockton Beach at the time, so resources were really stretched."

Other entanglement reports were received at Sussex Inlet on the south coast, Cook Island off the north coast, Merewether Beach in Newcastle, and an unconfirmed entanglement at Lennox Head on the north coast.

"This is due to the fact that there is an increase in humpback whale population off our coastline, so the chance of interactions with drum lines or commercial fishing gear or marine debris, that's going to increase the more whales that are out there, unfortunately."

Stockton stranding

Separate to multiple entanglement incidents, ORRCA and national parks crews tried to save a small whale that was stranded at Stockton Beach near Newcastle on Saturday.

The 1.8-metre melon-headed whale was unable to be saved, despite the efforts of a veterinarian and rescuers, and was euthanised.

Stockton resident Darius Malisauskas came across the whale on a morning walk, along with other concerned locals.

"It was breathing every eight to 15 seconds … I slowly dragged it into the water and kept its blowhole above the waterline," he told 1233 ABC Newcastle Breakfast.

"While we were in the water, ORRCA rang and gave us step-by-step instructions on what to do."

Mr Malisauskas said he spent two hours in the water, along with another local Phil, to help the whale while it was in distress.

"I'll tell you what, these things are heavy, even at 1.8 metres long, they have a lot of power when they have a burst of energy.

"[The whale] wanted to go out, but it just didn't have the energy to swim or anything like that.

"It was quite sad; I was hoping it'd be a better outcome.

Ms Jacobs urged members of the public to continue reporting any whales they saw in trouble.

"Last year, we responded to 28 entanglements on our coastline … but we've had 24 so far to date, and we're only in July," she said.

"We're definitely seeing a marked increase this year in whales coming through with entanglements, but they're also being reported more frequently to us, which obviously is fantastic in that it gives us the opportunity to try and get help to that animal."