A full-size adult humpback whale approximately 18 metres in length was rescued near Gippsland yesterday afternoon, as part of a multi-agency operation.
The encumbered whale was first spotted from a commercial helicopter on Sunday, 23 June, with around 200 metres of rope and fishing buoys wrapped around it and restricting its capacity to swim.
It was nearly a week before the animal was spotted again by a recreation vessel in waters off the southeastern coast, about 4.5 nautical miles from Lake Tyers, on Friday afternoon.
Water Police officers deployed in a 14.7 metre offshore vessel VP09 with a specialist team aboard from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, Victorian Fishing Authority and Parks Victoria to attach a tracking device to the mammal so they could easily locate it again.
The joint operation continued on Saturday and the team were able to use smaller boats to get in close enough to the ailing whale to successfully cut approximately 800kg of tangled ropes and buoys from the animal.
Police used a crane to lift the heavy fishing tackle out of the water to ensure it didn't become a hazard for any other vessels or marine life.
Water Police Inspector James Dalton said it wasn't a normal day in the office for his team.
"Normally police are searching for missing people or vessels in waterways, so this was a completely different kind of search for us," he said.
"The whale was so tightly tangled in the ropes and it wasn't travelling very far so we knew it was in real distress.
"To safely cut the ropes away, we needed to return the following day to ensure we could successfully remove enough of the rope that it could swim freely again.
"This was a huge team effort and we're so happy that it had a great outcome."
