Race begins to rescue humpback whale entangled in nets in Sydney Harbour

A rescue operation is underway to free a juvenile humpback whale that became entangled in a fishing net.

A whale-watching cruise ship first spotted the animal outside The Heads, near Sydney Harbour, at around 1.20pm on Thursday.

Wildlife rescue group OORCA was contacted to help the whale which swam into the harbour near Shark Island before it was tagged with a GPS tracker.

The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service has sent three boats to work on freeing the poor animal from the 50-metre-long fish trap wrapped around its tail.

Rescue efforts were abandoned at dusk and resumed at dawn on Friday with the help of a GPS tracker to locate the whale.

More to come.