Orca run-ins near Strait of Gibraltar

Spain warns smaller vessels of orca run-ins near Strait of Gibraltar over summer
May 14, 2024

Following the ramming of a small boat by an orca in the Strait of Gibraltar, authorities in Spain have issued recommendations that small vessels stick to the coastline in that region to avoid often-scary interactions with killer whales during summer months.

In the latest incident, two people aboard a 15-metre boat in Moroccan waters requested help from Spain’s maritime rescue service on Sunday, after reporting that an orca knocked the craft several times, damaging its rudder and causing a leak. The people were picked up by a passing oil tanker summoned by the rescuers, and their boat later sank.

Spain’s ministries for transport and the environment, along with its merchant marines, issued notices on Tuesday urging both sailing boats and small motorboats to beware of orcas between May and August in the area between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Gulf of Cadiz.

The Atlantic Orca Working Group, a team of Spanish and Portuguese marine life researchers who study killer whales near the Iberia Peninsula, says there were 197 such known interactions in 2021 and another 207 in 2022.

https://www.spainenglish.com/2024/05/14/spain-warns-smaller-vessels-orca-run-ins-near-strait-of-gibraltar-over-summer/

Original incident: From June 2023 by Victoria Heath

A 2022 study has shed light on the reasons why orcas (killer whales) have been attacking boats in the Strait of Gibraltar, with researchers theorising that the incidents began after a vessel injured a female orca named White Gladis.

Since the attacks began in 2020, three boats have been sunk and more than 250 damaged by a group of orcas, with the animals appearing to deliberately target the vessels’ rudders.

Of the 35 killer whales in the region, 15 are reported to have been involved in the highly unusual interactions, which experts think began after White Gladis’ behaviour altered in a ‘defensive’ fashion after she suffered a ‘critical moment of agony’ involving a boat collision or illegal fishing entrapment – leading to other orcas damaging passing vessels in response.

https://divemagazine.com/marine-life/study-explains-why-orcas-are-attacking-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar

I find it interesting that the whales seem to be handing down a new behavioral tradition