Efforts will begin today to rescue a fishing trawler stranded on a remote South Island beach

The boat ran aground at Big Bay - 40 kilometres north of Milford Sound - on Thursday morning.

While a rescue coordination centre was alerted, no distress call was made and there have been no reports of injuries.

The Herald understands there may have been three crew members on board at the time.

A vessel from Westport has been enlisted to try tow it off the beach on today's high tide.

Maritime New Zealand are investigating.