A 10-metre humpback whale caught in rope off Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach will remain stuck overnight, authorities say.
The animal was spotted about two nautical miles off the coast on Tuesday afternoon by a whale watching boat, whose crew tried to free it.
A NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman said the department would wait until morning to locate and attempt to rescue the whale.
ABC News reports people on board the whale watching boat battled to save the whale.
Justin Hawco, from Whale Watching Sydney, said the animal was caught in a line attached to a fish trap on the ocean floor.
"In this guy's case [the line] was through the mouth around one of the pectoral fins and then back to the tail and probably six wraps around the tail and from there straight down to a fish trap," he told ABC News.
Mr Hawco said the crew cut the line that ran between the tail and the mouth, but it wasn't enough to free the whale.
"It seemed very calm but to me that suggested it had very little energy left," he said.
"It wasn't flopping around, in fact every time we got up close to it, it turned its tail towards us … almost like it wanted us to get in and get the line off."
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