A 40-year-old Maketu man has been injured by a stingray which punctured his leg during a fishing trip off the Bay of Plenty coast today.

The Maketu Fire Brigade was called to the Kaituna Cut jetty off Ford Road at about 3.20pm to help the man being transported to the jetty by boat with a stingray barb in his thigh.

The Kaituna Cut jetty - where the man was brought in by boat.

Maketu Fire Brigade chief officer Shane Beech says the man was fishing with another local when the incident occured.

"They were pulling up a net and the stingray was in the net. Unfortunately the stringray has shot his barb out and got him in the back of his right thigh."

Shane says the barb did not go all the way through the man's leg, but it did give him a big fright.

"He was in reasonably good spirits."

Northern Fire Communications shift manager Jaron Phillips says firefighters administered first aid before an ambulance from Papamoa arrived at the jetty to transport the man to Tauranga Hospital where he is believed to be in a stable condition.

This is the second accident involving a stingray in the region in the last two weeks.

Auckland man Peato Samele Ilalio died after jumping into the water off Kauri Point last week to retrieve his fishing line, which is believed to have been hooked by a stingray.

Police divers and the Royal New Zealand Navy's Mines Counter Measures team from the Devonport Naval Base joined the four day search for the 40-year-old.

His body was pulled from the water on Sunday. Peato's death has now been referred to the coroner. Read more here.

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