Orcas sink a 50' in the Strait of Gibraltar

[masraum]

I thought we had a thread about Orcas attacking boats, but couldn't find one except one 11 years old. Maybe it was just a post in a thread, not a separate thread.

THis time they sank a 50' sailboat.
https://www.yachting.com/en-gb/boat/22570/sun-odyssey-519#

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/orcas-sink-50-foot-yacht-off-the-coast-of-morocco-180984376/

The boat-ramming orcas are back in action: Two people had to be rescued from a sailing yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar after the black-and-white marine mammals damaged the vessel so badly it later sank, reporters Reuters’ David Latona.

The incident occurred around 9 a.m. local time Sunday, some 14 miles north of Cape Spartel in northern Morocco. Passengers aboard the 50-foot Alboran Cognac felt blows to the yacht’s hull and saw that the rudder had been damaged. As water began leaking onto the ship, they contacted the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Tarifa, Spain, which directed them to prepare for an emergency rescue.

About an hour later, a nearby oil tanker picked up the two crew members, who were customers of Spain-based Alboran Charter, which owns the yacht, reports the Washington Post’s Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff.

The boat took on more water and sank soon after. It’s not clear how many orcas targeted the vessel.

The sinking of the Alboran Cognac is the latest in a string of incidents involving orcas and ships in the Strait of Gibraltar. The highly intelligent, social marine mammals made headlines last spring, when they sank a Swiss yacht called Champagne off the coast of Spain. In November, they brought down another ship, a Polish sailing yacht called the Grazie Mamma.

But the animals’ unusual behavior goes back even further: Since 2020, mariners have reported 700 interactions between orcas and ships in the Strait of Gibraltar, per Reuters. The Alboran Cognac is the fifth vessel orcas have sunk in the last three years, reports Live Science’s Harry Baker.

Most of the incidents have been recorded in the Strait of Gibraltar, a waterway linking the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The strait, which is bordered by Morocco to the south and by Spain to the north, is home to a distinct—and critically endangered—subpopulation of fewer than 50 orcas.

However, last June, orcas also rammed into a ship in the North Sea between Scotland and Norway, roughly 2,000 miles away from the Strait of Gibraltar. Scientists weren’t quite sure what to make of that incident, which raised the possibility that the destructive behavior was spreading to different groups of orcas.

In the meantime, authorities are urging mariners in the Strait of Gibraltar to exercise caution this summer. Spain’s Maritime Safety and Rescue Society recommends avoiding a large area between the Gulf of Cádiz and the Strait of Gibraltar; the agency also suggests that mariners sail as close to the coast as possible, especially from May to August, when orcas are more likely to be in the region.

If sailors do encounter orcas, the agency recommends they keep the vessel moving and head toward shallower waters. People onboard the ship should remain in the middle of the vessel and not approach the sides, where they may be at risk of falling overboard.

The agency also asked mariners to notify authorities of any orca encounters and, if possible, to take photographs of the creatures for identification.

Scientists remain puzzled by the orcas’ destructive behavior. A leading hypothesis is that a female nicknamed “White Gladis” started ramming into ships after having some sort of traumatic run-in with a vessel; she may also have been pregnant when she first started targeting ships. Since orcas are social creatures, other members of White Gladis’ group may have simply followed her lead and mimicked her actions.

“The idea of revenge is a great story, but there’s no evidence for it,” said Lori Marino, a neuroscientist and the founder and president of the Whale Sanctuary Project, to BBC Newsbeat’s Shaun Dacosta last year.

Another possibility is that the orcas are curious about ships, or maybe, they’re just having fun.

“They’re probably socializing, yucking it up with each other about their adventures without realizing the terror they’re creating in their moments of joy,” said Andrew Trites, a marine mammal researcher at the University of British Columbia in Canada, to Business Insider’s Erin Heger last summer.

Orcas have also been known to temporarily exhibit other unusual behaviors, like placing dead salmon atop their heads. The boat-ramming behavior may be another, similarly short-lived fad that the Strait of Gibraltar orcas will eventually move on from.

And they may already be doing just that: Between January and May 2024, the number of reported interactions with orcas was 65 percent lower than during the same period in 2023 and 40 percent lower than the average for those months across 2021, 2022 and 2023, according to the Atlantic Orca Working Group.

Whatever the orcas’ motivations, scientists have urged onlookers to avoid assigning human emotions to the animals’ behaviors. Though the boat-ramming killer whales have given rise to internet memes and merchandise that suggests they’re plotting an “orca uprising,” researchers argue that the marine mammals are not acting with malicious intent.

Which might be hard to stomach if you've been sunk by them. It's probably lucky that they weren't sunk and then toyed with.

[masraum]

Doh! forgot the "what" that the Orcas sank in the thread title. The article said "yacht", but I'd planned to put "sailboat".

[LWJ]

This is tragic. The people will be traumatized if not deceased. It is not something to giggle about.

And yet? With all of the carnage that human's have delivered on Earth, I find a little peace that humans get pushed back. Which, is a weird and completely contradictory perspective.

Don't hate me. I really love nature.

[Steve Carlton]

The two onboard the Alboran Cognac were rescued. The leading theory is the Killer Whales were imitating a trendy behavior in the last four years in the area- playing. Powerful creatures!

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmm330y6d2qo

[911 Rod]

You would think it would hurt the Orca's ramming a boat.
Like head butting a wall. You only do it once.

[zakthor]

I saw a large male, a mom and two small ones rush by about 15' from the point I was standing on. They were trying to escape the whalewatching boats.

My whole life I've never seen a creature so powerful and monstrous. Male was engulfed in roaring whitewater and it seemed to be about the size of a station wagon.

Here's a pic on a different day:

[masraum]

[Noah930]

Not directly related to what these orcas are doing, but there's a fascinating (at least it was to me) 4-part series on whales on National Geographic. I think I watched it through the Disney Channel. The premise is about how whales have culture. One of the episodes is about orcas (each episode covers a different species of whale--yeah yeah, I know orcas are actually dolphins).

[jyl]

Orcas are fearsome and impressive. Truly apex predators and intelligent, social, pack-hunting. Anything that can take down the largest whales, Great White sharks, 50’ sailboats - we shouldn’t be hounding them with tourist boats. We should be showing them respect.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by jyl

we shouldn’t be hounding them with tourist boats. We should be showing them respect.

Exactly. There wasn't a problem with Orcas a while ago. They come into the bay here once every couple of years looking for stingrays and don't mind the surfers and swimmers.

[911 Rod]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Exactly. There wasn't a problem with Orcas a while ago. They come into the bay here once every couple of years looking for stingrays and don't mind the surfers and swimmers.

Are the surfers and swimmers tasty?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Exactly. There wasn't a problem with Orcas a while ago. They come into the bay here once every couple of years looking for stingrays and don't mind the surfers and swimmers.

I've seen some videos of orcas checking out kayakers and stand up paddle board folks. They often seem more like dolphins and whales, curious. But it would be pretty terrifying as well as awe inspiring to have one or several checking you out, even if they seemed benign.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Are the surfers and swimmers tasty?

Very tasty, but the swimsuits, wet suits, and surfboard leashes get caught in your teeth.

[Tim Hancock]

I wonder what kind of defense could be used if a pod was attacking one's boat like this? Would a gun do anything or would it just piss off the whale even more?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

I wonder what kind of defense could be used if a pod was attacking one's boat like this? Would a gun do anything or would it just piss off the whale even more?

I suspect there's a few legal issues with shooting at whales, but maybe not.

Maybe get a speaker to hang into the water that sounds like a horny female?

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by masraum

I suspect there's a few legal issues with shooting at whales, but maybe not.

Maybe get a speaker to hang into the water that sounds like a horny female?

If killer whales are about to sink my boat, I don't think I would care too much about the legalities vs getting eaten by a big "fish"

I bet someone will come up with some sort of deterrent as I have now heard of this happening more than once.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Are the surfers and swimmers tasty?

Originally Posted by masraum

I've seen some videos of orcas checking out kayakers and stand up paddle board folks. They often seem more like dolphins and whales, curious. But it would be pretty terrifying as well as awe inspiring to have one or several checking you out, even if they seemed benign.

Haha. not tasty enough. I've only seen them a few times around here. The first time I was on a cliff looking down at them approaching some surfers. It was pretty funny seeing the surfers first noticing them and then fair moving it to shore. They were quite impressive. Prior to them meeting the surfers they were in the next bay and I walked out on some rocks to what would have been 3 or 4 meters from them as they slowly passed.

[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Haha. not tasty enough. I've only seen them a few times around here. The first time I was on a cliff looking down at them approaching some surfers. It was pretty funny seeing the surfers first noticing them and then fair moving it to shore. They were quite impressive. Prior to them meeting the surfers they were in the next bay and I walked out on some rocks to what would have been 3 or 4 meters from them as they slowly passed.

That would've been awesome to be that close.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[Bill Douglas]

Yeah it was. It appeared to be a family and the big daddy one was big. A very large dorsal fin.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Yeah it was. It appeared to be a family and the big daddy one was big. A very large dorsal fin.

Yeah, I saw something, I think maybe this article or another that said that the dorsal fins were 4' or 5' tall, and I remember reading that they can get up to 30' long. I owned a '65 impala, and I think it was only 17' long, so that's nearly 2 impalas long. That's a BIG FISHY with lots of big teeth! (yeah, I know they are mammals)