A Coromandel harbourmaster who helped free an entangled orca using a Waikato Regional Council boat has been stood down from operational tasks on the water.

The breeding female had been trapped by a cray pot line for 16 hours before Whitianga harbourmaster Matthew Collicott decided to step in and help free the orca on Wednesday night.

Speaking to Fairfax, Department of Conservation spokesman Steve Brightwell says staff were notified about the entangled orca in the waters off Tokoroa Rock at Kennedy Bay at 9am on Wednesday. The original informant told DOC the orca appeared to be in a good condition.

At that stage, staff were busy and planned to go out later in the day, but by mid-afternoon conditions were unsafe and the decision was made not to risk sending staff out in the dark, so they planned to head back at 9am on Thursday, says Steve.

Throughout the day multiple calls were made to the DOC hotline and to individual conservation officers on their cellphones.

When the harbourmaster learned the orca was still trapped at 7pm, it was then he who decided to step in and help.

Orca Research Trust's Dr Ingrid Visser confirms to Fairfax Matthew and a volunteer who'd trained in whale and dolphin disentanglement, volunteered to help in the rescue and took a WRC vessel out to where the orca was trapped.

'I talked them through the protocol. They were onsite monitoring the animal and the rope became slack around the tail, so they were able to bring it alongside,” explains Ingrid

During the rescue, the pair engineered a grapnel hook out of a crowbar and hooked the line to bring the orca alongside the boat.

Ingrid says the entangled orca was being held up by another orca in its pod.

Once the rescuers established the orca wasn't trapped any further, they cut the rope free and it swam off.

'It had been entangled for 16 hours, so it was getting to the point where every breath was an issue for it. That's just inexcusable. If they hadn't have stepped in, the animal would have died.”

Ingrid is aware Matthew had now been stood down from some duties and describes the decisions as an 'absolutely disgusting display of lack of empathy”.

She also believes someone should be held to account for doing a 'despicable thing” to someone who was trying to help an animal in need.

'These guys are tasked with [knowing about] boat safety. The harbourmaster is a very experienced skipper and in a full moon and calm, there were minimal risks. [The harbourmaster] was incredibly responsible and someone who cared,” Ingrid tells Fairfax.

In a statement, Waikato Regional Council chief executive Vaughan Payne says they are checking whether any regulations were breached or operational procedures not followed during the rescue.

In the meantime Matthew, who resigned some time ago and whose final day is today, has been stood down from operational duties as inquiries continue which is expected to take some time.

- stuff.co.nz