Killer whales are ramming boats for fun, scientists say. A new report offers ways to protect mariners | CBC Radio

When Renaud de Stephanis sees killer whales encompass his boat off the coast of Spain, he is not afraid — he is excited as a result of it is an opportunity to get some analysis achieved.

When requested how typically his boats have been hit by the whales, he laughs and says, “oh, about 70 times.”

Using boats with pretend rudders and underwater cameras, he and his staff have been making an attempt to be taught extra about why, for the final 5 years, the killer whales (also called orcas) in these waters maintain ramming boats, generally sinking them.

“They don’t care if it’s a sailboat or motorboat. They look for the rudders to break them,” stated de Stephanis, a biologist and president of the Spanish conservation group CIRCE. “They just push it with their head until they break it and that’s it.”

According to the GT Atlantic Orca, which tracks the incidents, no less than 673 boats have reported being rammed by this pod of whales close to Spain since 2020. While there have been no accidents to people, two Moroccan fishing vessels and 5 sailboats ended up sinking, together with a 50-foot sailboat only a few weeks in the past. 

“It was perplexing because it’s something that, having studied killer whales on the West Coast of Canada for many decades, I’ve never heard of this kind of behaviour at all,” stated John Ford, analysis scientist emeritus at Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, B.C.

De Stephanis and Ford are a part of a global community of killer whale consultants who’ve been making an attempt to get to the underside of the behaviour. The group met in February on the request of the Spanish and Portuguese governments, and lately launched a report of their findings.

The report concludes that the whales’ behaviour is playful, and suggests a number of concepts on how to cease it for the security of the whales and people alike.

These actually should not be known as assaults as a result of they don’t seem to be attacking the boats, they’re taking part in with the boats.– John Ford

Internet theories of revenge are unfounded

The inhabitants of Iberian killer whales are listed as critically endangered by the IUCN, with solely 40 animals left within the area. And simply 14 of the whales, largely juveniles with 4 mature females, are believed to be those inflicting bother.

Soon after the incidents began in 2020, folks on the web got here up with theories about why the whales have been concentrating on boats. 

“There was a lot of talk about revenge, and, oh, sink the rich,” stated Naomi Rose, senior scientist for marine mammal biology on the Animal Welfare Institute, who was additionally a part of the workshop in Madrid. 

WATCH | Underwater video of whales “playing” with a ship rudder:

Killer whales bump boats to play with them, researchers say

Scientists captured this pod of juvenile killer whales off the coast of Spain as they bumped the rudders of their ship. The researchers say the whales are interacting with the rudders as a type of play, and never aggression or revenge as prompt by some on social media. Video credit score: Renaud de Stephanis/CIRCE (Conservación, Información y Estudio sobre Cetáceos)

But as an alternative of laughing on the jokes, she realized that this might find yourself being a harmful narrative for the whales. 

“I was just worried that the funnier people found it, the more the mariners who were being targeted would get angry.”

The behaviour has been known as an “attack” on boats, a time period Ford rejects. 

“They’re not attacking the boats, they’re playing with the boats,” he stated.

Rose’s issues are not unfounded. In latest years, mariners have been noticed capturing on the whales, pouring gasoline into the water and even dropping explosives because the whales strategy.

The governments of Spain and Portugal known as the assembly in February partially to see if scientists might determine various options for mariners to evade the whales with out inflicting hurt to the animals. 

Play behaviour is kind of widespread in killer whales. Ford witnessed this primary hand when finding out southern resident killer whales off the coast of British Columbia, when, one summer season, they determined to put on useless salmon on their heads as hats.

The scientists consider this explicit pod of whales have extra time to play as a result of they are spending much less time searching for meals.

“What’s happened in recent years is that the abundance of bluefin tuna has increased substantially and, as a result, the whales are spending less time foraging, and they have, essentially, more time on their hands to get involved in other behaviours,” stated Ford.

Simple answer: Make the sport much less enjoyable

This summer season, de Stephanis and his staff from CIRCE are testing totally different mitigation strategies on a number of boats close to the Strait of Gibraltar to see if they will repel the whales.

One technique is to have weighted strains over the facet of the boat that encompass the rudder space. This could repel the whales, de Stephanis says, as a result of they give the impression of being like jellyfish.

Another strategy is to set up small cones on the rudders, which make it uncomfortable for the whales to push with their heads.

“In our case it’s working, and all the orcas have been having a problem with that,” de Stephanis stated. 

Until these strategies are commercially out there, the report suggests the very best factor for involved mariners to do is to carry on shifting in the event that they see the killer whales close by.

“If you stop [your boat], the problem is that you give the rudder to them and they can break it by leverage, and they can aim,” he stated.

Ford provides that analysis has proven that the whales sometimes will not chase after a ship. “If they continue driving away in their boat for two to three kilometres, the whales generally will give up.”

Rose hopes that the report might help quell rumours of whales being on the assault, and encourage folks to admire these playful animals as an alternative.

“We’re in their living room, we’re in their world, we’re in their house. We need to learn to live with them,” stated Rose.

“And, you know, we really ought to start having more respect for the animals we share the ocean with.”