June 24th 2023.
Sailors in the seas off Gibraltar, Spain, and Portugal have encountered an alarming surge in interactions with orcas, or killer whales, this year. Three boats have even been sunk since 2020 due to orca rammings. Marine experts are wondering why these majestic animals have become so desperate to attack or to play with boats.
Dr Wim Rutten, 72, experienced a frightening encounter with an orca while sailing from Lerwick to Bergen, Norway on Monday. "What I felt [was] most frightening was the very loud breathing of the animal," he told The Guardian. "Maybe he just wanted to play. Or look me in the May. Or to get rid of the fishing line."
Lissa Batey, head of marine conservation for The Wildlife Trusts, believes the orcas are "learning" the behaviour from each other as they see the boats as a threat. "Orca are a highly intelligent, social species, with groups structured around a matriarch, usually the grandmother," she told The Agency. "Behaviours are passed on within groups, or 'pods' of animals."
Lissa added that previous "negative interactions" may be the cause of the orcas' increasingly hostile behaviour. "What may have begun as assumed play, now would appear to be an attack and I can only assume that it is in response to a perceived threat, maybe those individuals have had a negative interaction with a boat or repeated disturbance events," she said.
In a recent incident, a pod of orcas bumped into one of the boats in an endurance sailing race as it approached the Strait of Gibraltar. The 15-minute run-in with at least three of the giant mammals forced the crew to drop its sails and create a noise in an attempt to scare off the approaching orcas. Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek said in a video posted on The Ocean Race website that it was "a scary moment".
It is clear that the orcas are engaging in this behaviour in response to a perceived threat. Although it may have started out as play, the animals now seem to be attacking the boats out of fear. To protect the orcas and the sailors, it is important to consider the reasons behind their behaviour and to take steps to reduce any negative interactions.
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