From Sunrise to Rescue: Helping Locate an Entangled Humpback Whale off Byron Bay

Saturday, 8 August 2026

Some mornings I head to the coast with my drone simply hoping to find whales.

Saturday morning turned into something completely different.

I had gotten up early for sunrise and headed out Ballina, hoping to photograph some of the humpbacks making their way along the coastline. At the time, a heavily entangled humpback whale had already been the subject of a search after first being spotted off Yamba earlier in the week.

The whale had continued travelling north and, despite multiple people keeping watch for it, finding one individual whale along such a huge stretch of ocean is incredibly difficult.

I knew it was somewhere out there.

I just didn't expect to be lucky enough to find it.

Finding the whale

At around 7:15am, while scanning the ocean, I spotted a whale that immediately caught my attention.

Once I put the drone over it, it became clear that this was the whale everyone had been searching for.

A long rope was wrapped around the whale's body, pinning both of its pectoral fins against its sides. Despite the severity of the entanglement, the whale could still move its tail freely and was continuing to travel at a surprisingly fast pace.

I contacted Sea World Foundation, directly to let them know I had located the whale.

From that moment, what had started as a normal morning of filming whales became a much bigger operation.

Sea World Foundation began mobilising their specialist rescue team while I tried to keep track of the whale's movements from the coastline.

The whale had already travelled a considerable distance, and keeping eyes on it was going to be one of the most important parts of giving the rescue team a chance to reach it.

WATCH MY FOOTAGE FROM THE DAY

Watch the rescue from my perspective on Instagram → @srdronography

Tracking it towards Byron Bay

Keeping track of a travelling humpback from land isn't as easy as it might sound.

A whale can disappear below the surface for several minutes, change direction, move kilometres along the coast and then surface somewhere completely different.

After my initial sighting, I contacted my friend called Tina who goes by the name @Byronbaydaily on instagram and asked her to keep watch further north.

She was able to pick the whale up again off Broken Head, around 400 metres from shore, giving us another important location as it continued towards Byron Bay.

I then repositioned further north myself.

By this stage I was in direct contact with Sea World Foundation while their team was toff the cape searching for the whale.

Throughout my search I could see the Sea World rescue boat from Tallows Beach and so once i finally found the entnagled whale, I called them and sent them a pint point of exactly where it was 1km off of Cape Byro.

I then made my way up towards the lighthouse so I could get better signal and a clear view of rescue to document the extraordinary rescue.

Seeing the entanglement from above

From the drone, the extent of the entanglement was confronting.

The large rope ran around the whale's girth and trapped both pectoral fins against its body. Sea World Foundation described the configuration as effectively having the whale “hogtied.”

Yet it was still swimming strongly.

Its tail remained free, which meant the whale could continue moving at pace (9-11km per hour) and made it extremely difficult for the rescue team to safely get close enough to work on the rope.

It also wasn't travelling alone.

Two other humpbacks were alongside the entangled whale, which was incredible to witness but created another challenge for the rescue crew. They had to position the vessel close enough to work on the entanglement while also constantly accounting for the other whales moving around them.

Watching everything unfold from above gave me a completely different appreciation for how precise this type of rescue needs to be.

The rescue

The Sea World Foundation team first attached two large buoys to the entanglement.

These created additional drag and helped slow the whale enough for the team to work closer to it.

They then had to determine exactly which section of rope needed to be cut. This wasn't something that could simply be rushed, making the wrong cut could potentially allow the whale to swim away while still carrying part of the entanglement.

Eventually, the team was able to manoeuvre alongside the whale and reach the rope near its right pectoral fin.

One successful cut was made.

And the entanglement released.

The rope across the whale's upper body came away, freeing its pectoral fins and finally allowing it to swim normally again. Sea World Foundation later confirmed that the targeted cut released the remaining equipment from the whale.

Although i was changing batteries and couldnt film the final cut, i was able to check the whale to ensure there didn't appear to be anything else remaining on its body.

After spending the morning watching this animal travel with its fins pinned against its sides, seeing it swimming freely was an incredible moment.

WATCH SEA WORLD FOUNDATION'S RESCUE

Watch Sea World Foundation's footage of the disentanglement →

More than just filming whales

I spend a huge amount of time on the NSW coastline photographing and filming whales and other marine life.

Most of the time, the drone is simply my camera.

Saturday was a reminder that sometimes it can become something more.

Being able to see kilometres of coastline from above, identify an individual whale and provide accurate updates on its movements can give rescue teams something incredibly valuable.

Wayne Phillips later said the aerial assistance was an important part of locating the whale, with Sea World Foundation having been tracking it for several days before it was finally found again on Saturday morning.

I want to be clear that the actual disentanglement was carried out by the trained and experienced Sea World Foundation rescue team. My role was helping to locate, track and provide an aerial perspective of the whale as the team worked to reach and ultimately free it.

It was a privilege to be able to contribute.

A huge thank you to the Sea World Foundation team

Watching Wayne and the entire team work around a moving nine-metre humpback, while two companion whales travelled alongside it, showed just how much skill and patience goes into these rescues.

What looks like a few moments in a social media video represents hours of searching, tracking, repositioning, assessing the entanglement and waiting for the right opportunity to safely make a cut.

For me, the best part of the entire experience wasn't the footage.

It was seeing the whale with no rope on at the end and seeing that whale continue along the coast with its fins free again.

I had gone out that morning hoping to photograph whales at sunrise.

Instead, I happened to be in the right place at the right time to help find one that desperately needed to be found.

That's a morning on the coast I won't forget.

Watch the full story

My perspective and drone footage

My Reel

Sea World Foundation rescue footage

Sea World Foundation Reel