Tauranga dolphin sightseeing skipper Graeme Butler is urging Tauranga fishers to be more careful setting gill nets after an orca whale was found trapped in one near Motiti Island.

At around 9am on Wednesday Tauranga Coastguard received a call from a fisherman who reported sightings of a large whale trapped in the rope end of a gill net about 20miles off the island's coast.

An orca whale feared dead near Motiti Island.

The whale is believed to have later been strangled to death, following a report from a second local fisherman claiming the whale was lifeless.

'Some people saw it alive and trying to free itself or was tangled and another person, just a bit later a person called up and said they have seen the orca and it was deceased,” says Graeme.

'There was no absolute confirmation but I can assume people would know if it's dead or not.”

The Butler's Swim with Dolphins owner says when he and his team conducted a search for the whale they picked up sightings of a pod of four on the eastern side of Motiti Island.

'They were right in among the rocks and cruising quite happily, quite healthily but so close in it was unusual.

'What was unusual about the pod we saw was that there were two bulls, a calf and one juvenile whale that looked far too small to be a breeding female - we didn't see a breeding female.”

When Graeme contacted Tauranga Coastguard for confirmation of the whale's status they were unable to identify any carcass.

'Nobody knows for sure, but what I did see was this calf and the calf seemed to be more interested in swimming with the bull that was in the pod than with the juvenile.”

Graeme says there are ‘hundreds' of nettings that pose a threat to sea creatures and it is possible the whale could have been strangled.

'I can't think of anything else it could have been.

'Tauranga needs to do something about the gill nets in the water and people who set nets because they are the biggest accidental cause of death of dolphins and whales in the area.”

Graeme would like to see the Tauranga area free of unattended set nets.

'Even the cray pots - there is so many of them it's so disgraceful really.”

A pod of orca whales were also spotted in Auckland and Mount Maunganui early Wednesday and Graeme says the ‘female' orca may have been separated from the family.

'The calf was very small and I just wondered because there was no full adult female there and we didn't see one in the whole time that we watched these animals.

'I just wonder whether this one that got tail wrapped was a female and the calf is now in Auckland.”

Have you seen whales, dolphins or sharks around Tauranga waters recently? Please let us know – phone 0800 SUNLIVE or email newsroom@thesun.co.nz