Whale boat capsized said to be freak wave

QUEENSLAND Parks and Wildlife Service will not investigate incident which left a man with a broken leg after he was thrown from boat by wave caused by a whale.

QUEENSLAND Parks and Wildlife Service will not be investigating an incident which left a man with a broken leg after he was thrown from his boat by a wave caused by a whale.

The Brisbane man was airlifted from Fraser Island on Thursday morning after the incident near Waddy Point.

He was released from Bundaberg Hospital on Friday afternoon.

A QPSW spokesman said the "unfortunate incident was caused by a freak wave" and therefore no investigation needed to occur.

Deliberately breaching safe distance regulations when near marine mammals such as whales can attract an penalty as high as $19,000 depending on the circumstances.

The spokesman said the legal distances were in place to keep both whales and boaties said.

"Give whales a wide berth and never restrict the path of a marine mammal if it is at all possible," he said.