Mysterious attacks on ships What's going on with the orcas?
Since the pandemic, the number of incidents between ships and orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar has exploded. What has happened to the orcas? blue News was there and got closer to the orcas - much closer than expected.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- According to scientists, more than 673 incidents of ramming orcas have been documented since the report in May 2020
- blue News reporters Nicole Agostini and Fabienne Kipfer travel to southern Spain and talk to scientists, fishermen and sailors on the ground.
- There are various theories and opinions as to why orcas ram sailboats.
- Eyewitnesses report that the behavior is not aggressive, but rather playful.
Katharina Heyer has been researching whales and dolphins off Tarifa for 27 years.
The Swiss woman founded the firmm foundation for species protection and knows the animals' behavior better than most people.
But now she too is faced with a conundrum. It all started with the coronavirus years, she tells blue News.
Katharina Heyer goes out to sea by boat every day to watch whales and dolphins.
Image: Quelle: blue News
The Swiss woman founded the firmm foundation for the protection of marine mammals in 1998.
Image: Quelle: blue News
The foundation offers whale watching tours to raise people's awareness of marine animals.
Image: Quelle: blue News
Heyer can't really explain the current behavior of the orcas either.
Image: Quelle: blue News
Katharina Heyer goes out to sea by boat every day to watch whales and dolphins.
Image: Quelle: blue News
The Swiss woman founded the firmm foundation for the protection of marine mammals in 1998.
Image: Quelle: blue News
The foundation offers whale watching tours to raise people's awareness of marine animals.
Image: Quelle: blue News
Heyer can't really explain the current behavior of the orcas either.
Image: Quelle: blue News
Heyer is standing in her office in Tarifa, Spain, on the Strait of Gibraltar. She has a scarf around her neck and an alert mind. There have never been any problems before, says Heyer, "the orcas have always remained peaceful".
firmm
The firmm foundation is committed to the protection of marine mammals and their habitat. Through respectful whale watching, firmm creates opportunities for encounters between humans and animals in Tarifa. Through research and information events, the foundation aims to promote a more respectful approach to the sea and its inhabitants.
However, since the pandemic has subsided and the boats have returned to sea, nothing in the Strait of Gibraltar is the same as it used to be.
To date, the orca research center GT Atlantica Orca has registered over 670 attacks - researchers refer to these as "interactions".
The majority of recorded interactions involve sailing boats, with 72% involving monohulls and 14% catamarans. However, encounters with motorboats (6%), semi-rigid boats (5%) and fishing boats (just under 3%) were also recorded.
Orcas sank an entire sailing boat as recently as July 24, 2024. This is already the seventh boat to capsize since the interactions. The occupants have always escaped unharmed. But the shock is great.
Werner Schaufelberger knows that too. He tells blue News that it was "grumbling" when the orcas came. "The orcas ripped the rudders out completely." His boat filled with water, the Swiss sailor had to call for a lifeboat in an emergency and was able to get himself and his crew to safety.
The wrecked sailing ship is still standing in the dry dockyard in Barbate one year after the orca interaction.
Image: Quelle: blue News
The orcas shook the rudder until water entered the ship.
Image: Quelle: blue News
The damage is still visible on the hull.
Image: Quelle: blue News
The wrecked sailing ship is still standing in the dry dockyard in Barbate one year after the orca interaction.
Image: Quelle: blue News
The orcas shook the rudder until water entered the ship.
Image: Quelle: blue News
The damage is still visible on the hull.
Image: Quelle: blue News
The damage to his boat is still visible today, as can be seen at the shipyard in Tarifa. Ships that have been damaged by orcas are now delivered there almost daily.
Fernando Santamaria's ship also ended up there. The Spaniard also witnessed such an experience. He describes in detail to blue News how the animals circled his boat and ultimately damaged his ship. He has since come to terms with the event and is not angry with the orcas, "but I don't want to encounter them again".
There are numerous attempts at an explanation
How can it be that the behavior of animals has changed so much within a relatively short period of time? Why have ships suddenly been targeted by these animals weighing several tons since the coronavirus pandemic? And above all: why have only members of the Orca Iberica subpopulation in the Strait of Gibraltar exhibited this mysterious behavior, even though orcas live in all the world's oceans?
A study published in June by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) suggests that orcas attack boats because fishing bans have led to an abundance of tuna. This probably gives them more time, as they have to search less for food and the intelligent animals now seem to be bored.
It is one of the latest possible explanations that have emerged in recent months for the orca interactions. Theories about possible causes are piling up almost daily.
Katharina Heyer initially believed that it was related to the return of freight traffic to Corona. Shipping traffic increased rapidly after the pandemic. "We thought the orcas might be disturbed by this." She now has a different theory: "I think it's become fun for them. I don't think the orcas want to harm the humans."
"People who have never experienced such an interaction say that it could be a game," says Fernando Santamaria. For him, it felt like an attack - albeit in a playful way. "But people feel attacked and react accordingly."
The port of Tarifa is also a transshipment point. This is where the fresh catch is delivered - including the big tuna. Not many people here want to talk about the orcas. After all, a large tuna fetches over 1000 euros, and the orcas love tuna.
Every year, bluefin tuna come from the Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean to spawn.
Image: Quelle: blue News
The fishermen, like José Antonio, live from it and so do the orcas. They snatch the tuna from the fishing lines.
Image: Quelle: blue News
A large bluefin tuna can fetch up to 1000 euros for a fisherman.
Image: Quelle: blue News
Every year, bluefin tuna come from the Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean to spawn.
Image: Quelle: blue News
The fishermen, like José Antonio, live from it and so do the orcas. They snatch the tuna from the fishing lines.
Image: Quelle: blue News
A large bluefin tuna can fetch up to 1000 euros for a fisherman.
Image: Quelle: blue News
Fisherman José Antonio finally tells the camera. "Once an orca snatched the tuna right out of my hand." Another time, "an orca distracted us on one side of the boat and another snapped at us on the other side". Antonio has his own theory. He believes that the animals feel threatened and therefore react by attacking.
Attack out of revenge?
Marine biologist José Manuel does not believe this: "Revenge is a human behavior and animals do not take revenge, especially not in the wild," he tells blue News. Instead, Manuel believes that the orcas think the rudder is a tuna and are therefore playing with it.
Marine biologist Jörn Selling also believes they are playing or training. "Sometimes they only hunt to train their calves. One could speculate that they might do the same with the sailboats."
Are parasites to blame?
Jörn Selling, who spent 20 years researching whales and dolphins in Tarifa, even suspects that the orcas could be infected by the Toxoplasma parasite. This would cause a change in the brain, which would make them more daring.
The Strait of Gibraltar has changed. There is a before and after corona - especially for sailors. No one knows for sure what exactly has caused the orcas to suddenly attack ships. Jörn Selling says: "There was hope that it would have played itself out at some point. But the only thing that seems to be clear is that the orcas simply don't want to stop yet."
It seems that it is far from over.
Are these killer whales ramming boats?
When we go out to sea with the firmm foundation to observe the marine mammals, we spot various species of dolphins, sperm whales, pilot whales and fin whales - as well as the orcas.
The marine mammals surface under our boat: Exclusive underwater footage shows the intelligent animals inspecting the hull and nudging it.
We immediately wonder which killer whales are inspecting us. Are they exactly the ones we're always talking about?