A marine expert has called for review of the use of shark nets off Gold Coast beaches after a young whale was reportedly trapped. A rescue team helped the exhausted humpback calf get rid of the net off Kirra beach on Thursday.

According to Trevor Long, Sea World's director of marine sciences, the calf was trapped the previous evening. "By the time we arrived in the morning, it was very tired and very, very sore. The animal was calm during the rescue and we were able to work fairly close to the animal and slowly cut the nets free", he added.

It took 90 minutes for the rescue team to release the struggling mammal using special knives. The rescue team was informed about the plight of the whale by beach walkers.

The whale suffered muscle and tail damage after getting trapped, but had no problem to swim away. Another baby whale was trapped off a southern Gold Coast beach on Sunday. The whale could not be saved. Long said the whale drowned because of not being able to free itself after hitting the bottom of a shark net.

He said many inexperienced mammals faced troubles during their first southern migration because of having no idea of where the traps were.

Long said about 20,000 animals exist on the east coast of Australia now, therefore it is very important to conduct review of the use of shark nets. It would be safe to remove shark nets during the whale season in winter.