A heart-breaking drone video from the coast of east Australia shows the extent of ocean plastic pollution as a humpback whale swam through polluted waters yesterday (June 9).

Filmed off the coast of Whale Beach, Sydney, the footage shows the whale surfacing near a slick on the surface and other pieces of floating garbage, before swimming away out to sea.

The filmer commented: "It's the start of the whale migration in these parts when they head north looking for warmer waters to breed and spend the winter.

"We are keen supporters of the worldwide drive to ban single-use plastics and feel the video would be a good example to support this.

"We believe we all have a responsibility to look after the health of our oceans and the planet in general. We take part in every beach and bush cleanup we can find, and often do impromptu ones ourselves."

A humpback whale is seen swimming through a long stretch of garbage and debris and can clearly be seen swimming between two plastic bags and other floating rubbish.

We recently had a few stormy days that brought heavy rain and strong winds to the Eastern coast of Australia. We believe that this contributed to the accumulation of debris that we see in the video. It's the start of the whale migration in these parts, when they head north looking for warmer waters to breed and spend the winter. This humpback whale was close to the shoreline, swimming in and out of this dirty patch, eventually swimming between two plastic bags and a number of other floating debris.