A 22-foot baby humpback has been freed after becoming tangled in shark nets off Australia's Gold Coast.

The seven-metre juvenile was rescued on Thursday, after straying into drift designed to keep predators off the beach.

The nets are typically some 10m deep and sit around 500m offshore.

Fortunately, the whale was spotted by a crew from the department of fisheries who helped the whale untangle itself, following a 40-minute struggle.

The youngster swam away, apparently uninjured.