They are just trying to traverse the Causeway of Gibraltar [orca/whale perspective] and are being harassed by stupid noisy critters leaping out of the land to block their way and annoy them. So one of them "kicked" a boat.
Not all-out warfare but there can be inter-pod skirmishes. They also hunt in groups and communicate the movement of their prey to co-ordinate their attacks together.
One of the hypotheses being floated around is that the orcas are fighting back against boats after one of their elders were traumatised, and others include the idea that they're basically protesting against noise pollution, overfishing, dangers to water mammals etc.
when i sit in my apartment trying to relax or focus and a super loud motorcycle drives by i do feel disrupted and also fantasize about intentionally disrupting that motorcycle.
so, i can relate to the orcas and it goes both ways with the disrupting.
These takes are trying to impose a weird "pure primitive world" take on something a pragmatic person would recognize for what it is. The orcas are messing with "weak" sailboats on purpose and leaving the "strong" boats alone. They're essentially bullying the sailboats.
To admit this doesn't make you a specist and doesn't force you to also believe that the animals should be harmed, btw.
“They seemed more aggressive/playful when we were sailing at speed. Once we slowed down they also started to be less aggressive in their attacks”
This is an interesting detail. It definitely supports the leading theories, that either they’re playing (chasing fast moving things is more fun) or reacting defensively after the pod experienced a ship collision.
Orcas are afraid of literally nothing. They can eat great white sharks and blue whale calves. The only solution here is probably to explore something as a nonlethal deterrent, like spikes on hulls/rudders or an underwater klaxon.
Unfortunately, human communication is extremely complex. Researchers are only beginning to scratch its surface.
The current approach is to fit them with helmets that project sounds and images of boats for the humans to sail in. Then it's just a matter of shooting the relevant humans with non-lethal darts and fitting them with the helmets. However, that's easier said than done. And there are latency issues with the helmets. (Not to mention early research suggesting they become less likely to mate, plus a whole host of health issues which we don't see in the wild.)
When the race stopped they also made a bunch of noise to scare away the orcas, sailboats are probably pretty quite gliding. If I was an orca and someone made a bunch of noise around me I’d sink them too.
IIRC Iberian orcas are endangered. Besides that, just suggesting to kill a living being for merely disturbing some irrelevant boat race that takes place in the domain of that creature is beyond me.
My initial reaction was also something along the lines of spikes, but though it may be non-lethal, it isn't non-harmful, and depending on the unknown logic of an Orca, it may just force them to find an alternative method.
I was thinking some small electrodes, that run down the fin, to give them an uncomfortable tingle when they try to contact it. That way, it would still maintain a direct cause->effect relation from the fin, and not directly related to a human.
There are electric shark deterrent systems, but I don't think they're very good at speed, where the electrodes could be applied to the fin, using marine-readied conductive tape, or just thin wires at the leading/trailing edges.
Apparently dropping sand from the aft of your boat acts as a good deterrent:
“sprinkling sand into the water around the rudder confuses the orca’s sonar” during an interaction, the Cruising Association has said.
“The orcas are coming in on sonar, not sight, we know that,” said John Burbeck, the Orca Project team leader at the Cruising Association. “And a few kilogrammes of sand around the rudder confuses that sonar picture they’re picking up.”
I really want this to be something that has been going on since long ago, like "there be dragons" long ago. Only, the brave strong men didn't want to admit that some cute looking Free Willy animal was causing the havoc, so they all agreed to make it scary sea monsters type of tales.
Whales and killer whales ramming boats is nothing new, only thing that really changed is that most boats are now strong enough to survive it so we get the report and the internet means everyone gets to hear about it. In the wooden boat days a whale or orca could effortlessly sink your boat and when you read the writings of the early small boat sailors (cruising and racing sorts) they are very nervous when whales are in sight because they all knew the damage they could do to their boat. The sailors were perfectly OK with admitting their fears of orca and whales and did not find them cute.
This will become really scary if they start attacking sailboats in the open ocean. While you're close to land you can always call for help. Imagine being in the middle of nowhere and they destroy your rudders so you have no way of changing direction. Even worse at some cases they have attacked the hull.
Sailboats can steer with just their sails, will limit the directions you can go but you are not completely adrift. Mainly it means you stop being picky about where you make landfall and just pick the nearest port given prevailing winds.
If you see orcas, you should move away from them and leave them alone. Some states, like Washington, are passing laws requiring that you stay a certain distance from them at all times.
Reverse the terminology for land and water domains.
We emerge like vermin from their coastal airs to invade their waters. We cannot fly in their water - we crawl along the surface - but we are still a big fat PITA.
The problem is orca is about the size of yacht, and can literally sink it. Second, on yacht you can install only a toy harpoon, if you want sails, rudder, dinghy, etc...
The easy option would be something annoying. Like underwater ultrasound speaker. Better responder which will respond to their pings with sh*tload of garbage.
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[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 150 ms ] thread"A pod of killer whales bumped one of the boats in an endurance sailing race as it approached the Strait of Gibraltar"
tldr: orcas are teaching each other how to sink boats.
Its for the lulz.
If not they might not even have instincts for group defense or retaliation (except in the context of one off encounters with predators).
> the latest encounter in what researchers say is a growing trend of aggressive interactions with Iberian orcas.
Sounds like the orcas were acting with intention.
so, i can relate to the orcas and it goes both ways with the disrupting.
To admit this doesn't make you a specist and doesn't force you to also believe that the animals should be harmed, btw.
This only shows "human" intelligence.
This is an interesting detail. It definitely supports the leading theories, that either they’re playing (chasing fast moving things is more fun) or reacting defensively after the pod experienced a ship collision.
Orcas are afraid of literally nothing. They can eat great white sharks and blue whale calves. The only solution here is probably to explore something as a nonlethal deterrent, like spikes on hulls/rudders or an underwater klaxon.
Or we could stop boating in their space
I like Orcas. I don’t want to see them attacked. :(
The current approach is to fit them with helmets that project sounds and images of boats for the humans to sail in. Then it's just a matter of shooting the relevant humans with non-lethal darts and fitting them with the helmets. However, that's easier said than done. And there are latency issues with the helmets. (Not to mention early research suggesting they become less likely to mate, plus a whole host of health issues which we don't see in the wild.)
As long as that board isn't in the ocean, then I'm with you!
(Nobody tell this person how the device they’re using was transported to their continent.)
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10211-022-00394-1
Or lethal means. Orcas are smart enough to figure out that messing with boats will result in death and pass that around.
"Hey, Tatuco, didn't you have this custom tossing live people into that volcano ?
Yes, but not for 200 years.
Ever think of reviving that custom ?" Buddy, Buddy
There are electric shark deterrent systems, but I don't think they're very good at speed, where the electrodes could be applied to the fin, using marine-readied conductive tape, or just thin wires at the leading/trailing edges.
“sprinkling sand into the water around the rudder confuses the orca’s sonar” during an interaction, the Cruising Association has said.
“The orcas are coming in on sonar, not sight, we know that,” said John Burbeck, the Orca Project team leader at the Cruising Association. “And a few kilogrammes of sand around the rudder confuses that sonar picture they’re picking up.”
https://www.pbo.co.uk/news/orca-sand-deterrence-77513
Cruising Association orca notification system https://www.theca.org.uk/orcas
GT Orca Atlantica - information about the Iberian orca and interactions https://www.orcaiberica.org/en
If you see orcas, you should move away from them and leave them alone. Some states, like Washington, are passing laws requiring that you stay a certain distance from them at all times.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/killer-whale-orca-tren...
We emerge like vermin from their coastal airs to invade their waters. We cannot fly in their water - we crawl along the surface - but we are still a big fat PITA.
The easy option would be something annoying. Like underwater ultrasound speaker. Better responder which will respond to their pings with sh*tload of garbage.