Wollongong City Council says it cost more than $44,000 to retrieve and dispose of a juvenile humpback whale that drowned after becoming entangled in a shark net off Coledale last month.

The 4.7-tonne whale washed onto rocks at Scarborough Beach on the evening of October 27, forcing council to undertake a complex and hazardous recovery operation.

A council report on the task found it required specialist contractors, cranes, trucks and staff working in heavy surf "with the presence of multiple sharks in the vicinity".

The report said that while the NSW Environment Protection Authority waived part of the waste levy, the operation still cost more than $44,000.

A necropsy conducted by Taronga's Australian Registry of Wildlife Health found the whale most likely drowned due to entanglement in

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