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Climate Change / Wildlife

Orcas Ramming Boats off the Spanish Coast

Even though the orcas are initiating the contact it’s illegal for boaters to try to interact with them.

Killer whales have been ramming boats off the coast of Northern Spain and this behavior has puzzled researchers. Over the last couple of months, orcas have damaged boats and injured sailors, according to The Guardian.

In the most recent report of an incident, off the coast of Spain, Halcyon Yachts was attempting to deliver a 36’ boat to the United Kingdom when an orca rammed it at least a dozen times. The boat lost its steering and had to be towed into port.

“It was repeatedly smashing the rudder, 15 times, I’m guessing,” Justin Crowther, the delivery captain told the Spanish newspaper La Voz De Galicia. “We switched everything off, we turned the engine off, we turned the electronics off, and it disappeared.”

 

This photo was taken by the crew of the Halcyon yacht attacked by a killer whale.

One sailor said that the attacks felt orchestrated and another said the impact felt like the boat was getting hit by a sledgehammer in a report by The Independent. Early this month, a Spanish Navy catamaran measuring nearly 40’ long was reportedly surrounded by a pod of orcas. One of the mammals hit the boat’s rudder, damaging it. So far in the last two months, two other boats have had their rudders damaged and several boats have made distress calls.

More Than Curiosity

Researchers say it’s normal for intelligent mammals like whales and dolphins to follow boats and express curiosity, but this kind of aggressive behavior is considered abnormal. The CEMMA cetacean research center, a non-government agency in Galicia, Spain, reminded boaters that it’s illegal for them to interact with the orcas.

Orcas travel in groups called pods and some have said the attacks appear to be orchestrated.

A call similar to the Halcyon attack was made nearly 70 miles to the south at the site of the attack on the Spanish Navy boat that happened earlier this month. In July in the Strait of Gilbraltar, a pod of Orcas allegedly rammed a boat for more than an hour, disabling the engine and autopilot.