Killer whales damage boats in Spanish, Portuguese waters in puzzling new behaviour
- A pod of orcas repeatedly rammed a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar, in the 24th such incident recorded this year
- The animals seem to be targeting boats in a wide arc covering the western coast of the Iberian Peninsula
A pod of killer whales repeatedly rammed a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar this week, damaging it enough to require Spanish rescuers to come to the aid of its four crew members.
It was the latest episode in a perplexing trend in the behaviour of orcas populating the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula that has left researchers searching for a cause.
Spain’s Maritime Rescue service said that killer whales repeatedly ran into the Mustique, a 20-metre (65-foot) vessel sailing under a UK flag, late on Wednesday, rendering its rudder inoperative and cracking its hull. Spanish rescuers needed to pump out seawater before towing her to safety.
The alert reached the Spanish service via their British counterparts, who had relayed on the distress call, the Spanish service said. A helicopter and a rescue boat were deployed to help the damaged boat to dock in Barbate.
This was the 24th such incident registered by the service this year. The service did not provide data from last year.
But the Atlantic Orca Working Group, a team of Spanish and Portuguese marine life researchers who study killer whales near the Iberian Peninsula, says that these incidents were first reported three years ago. In 2020, the group registered 52 such events, some of which resulted in damaged rudders. That increased to 197 in 2021 and to 207 in 2022.
