Sea World marine rescue team free humpback whale at Kirra

A third whale in three days has become entangled in Queensland waters, with a Sea World marine rescue team freeing a humpback from shark nets at the Gold Coast this morning.

A whale has been successfully freed from a shark net off the Gold Coast.

A marine rescue team were called to free a humpback that became trapped in shark nets at Kirra about 7am.

A Sea World spokesman said the whale was freed just before 9am.

It’s the fifth whale stranding so far this season in Queensland waters, and the third in three days.

A Sea World rescue team freed a trapped humpback whale off Kirra Beach. Picture: 9 News

Sea Shepherd shark defence campaigner Jonathan Clark said the annual whale migration had only just begun “and already more whales have become entangled in these useless shark nets than in the entirety of 2021”.

“ These whales are yet to make the return trip to Antarctica where they will have to run this gauntlet again,” he said.

“It’s time for these cruel and deadly nets to come out now.”

Sea Shepherd Australia’s threatened and endangered species campaigner Lauren Sandeman said more than 120 whales had been entangled in Queensland shark nets.

“It’s past time for the Queensland Fisheries Minister, Mark Furner, to act on the scientific advice he’s been receiving for years to remove these nets during whale season to stop these events occurring like clockwork each year,” she said.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society is also on the scene.