Orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar have developed a serious case of localism. Photo: Unsplash
By now, hearing of an orca attack on a boat is no surprise. However, the creatures have recently managed to escalate their hostility towards human sailors even further, leading to the Spanish coast guard advising boat owners in Galicia, in the country’s northeast Iberian Peninsula, not to leave harbors.
The warning was in response to an increase in orca activity over the past week, as The Times reports. Orcas have been ramming the rudders of sailboats in shallower waters at inordinate rates.
The most recent attack took place on Saturday in Vilaxoan, a location not previously known for orca encounters. The worst encounter was with a German boat, which had its rudder badly damaged by an orca, then was pursued by the cetaceans within half a nautical mile of the shore.
Since 2020, orcas have been regularly attacking boats around the Iberian Peninsula. Hundreds of the attacks have been recorded each year. They have been observed removing rudders to disable vessels, and in one case even managed to sink a yacht in Moroccan waters in the Strait of Gibraltar.
There are competing theories as to why exactly the orcas are doing this. Some have postulated that it was revenge for a vessel strike, though other scientists have dismissed this theory as lacking evidence. Lori Marino, president of the Whale Sanctuary Project told the BBC that the attacks likely “started out as play behavior,” which was then copied by others.