Killer whales off the Pacific Attacking Boats Too!

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

You are okay with it when orcas kill sailors? Just let them do it because it is their natural evolution to do so? You will not allow those sailors to defend themselves? Oh my

Are you saying that sailors should preemptively shoot Orcas that get close to their boat because they might damage the boat?

[Calif.Ted]

We were really fortunate to be able to watch a small pod here for a couple hours once. On a near windless day I was looking around for whales or dolphins and saw a "small" blow that I thought was possibly Risso's dolphins. So with the main up we motored toward them until I could make out the tall dorsal fins. We coast up slowly with motor off and as we approached the Alpha whale made a quick run toward us. Recon and setting a boundary I assumed. It was a small family group and they were tossing around the empty skin of a small seal. Could be they were teaching young to hunt or just Orca soccer practice. They also took a seagull from the surface while we watched, not something I thought was on their menu. When a local whale watching boat caught on to what we were doing they came over and chased them away.
After the male first approached the boat my wife, sitting in the stern perch seat did say "Think he could just jump and take my head off?"

[TrentePieds]

A pod of "southern resident orcas" - a close knit family group which has been observed for many, many years as a family unit of about two dozen animals - DOES actually "circle just outside my home port". It is called the "J"-pod, and every single member of it is personally known to our local marine biologists. We rejoice when we see it, not least because "J-37" had a baby last year. There can be years between births in a pod.

Mothers nurse their babies for two years or so, but the "aunties" help bring up the baby and teach it to hunt.

I am not aware of any "attack" by orcas in our waters, and very often they come close to boats. So do humpbacks. My Beloved still gets misty-eyed about the humpback that some years ago swam alongside us for a mile or so, just a very few feet off TP. That whale certainly was conscious of where the various bits of her body were in relation to TP. She quite obviously had no intention of hurting us.

Her positioning herself alongside us reminded me of my 220 lb Old English Mastiff that made a sport of crawling under a low sofa table from one side to the other without touching it.

I rather resent our canning chinook salmon and sending it off to "furrin" parts for human consumption, when chinook salmon is the principal part of the orcas' diet and they, so I'm told, are going short!

https://www.mmc.gov/priority-topics/...-killer-whale/

TrentePieds

[chrisr]

we have been hit by a whale (on our previous catamaran)...and i say that because it is what happened. the whale hit us (ie surfaced underneath us) - we did not hit the whale

so please do not believe that whales always are so perceptive as to know exactly where you are at all times. whales make mistakes just like we do

of course an accident like this is not an attack, although it can have the same end result.

cheers,

[jeanathon]

Originally Posted by Ryban

What a human response. We take away habitat, we make changes to our climate, we put undo pressures on these animals due to our own behavior/greed/ and need of perpetual growth, and we treat their space as our playground and then when there are unpleasant encounters between humans and wildlife, our solution is to destroy the animal.

I thought we were are creating more habitat for them with sea level rise?!? Non?!

[Ryban]

Originally Posted by jeanathon

I thought we were are creating more habitat for them with sea level rise?!? Non?!

I can only assume this is sarcasm, because it's too unintelligent to be anything else.

Jim: We do have orcas here just outside our marina. They haven't attacked any boats to my knowledge. If they start to, I won't be advocating to kill them.

[El Pinguino]

In the early 70's orcas sank two yachts near the Galapagos. The Robertson's boat in 71 and the Bailey's yacht in 73.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

In the early 70's orcas sank two yachts near the Galapagos. The Robertson's boat in 71 and the Bailey's yacht in 73.

Ping, were those sinkings due to Orcas? My (oft fallible)memory is that they were some manner of proper whales.

Jim

[catsketcher]

I think both were due to attacks by false killer whales, a slightly different species. In the late 70s, a famous Australian boat - Gingko, designed by Bob Miller/Ben Lexcen - was sunk by orcas or false killer whales off the spanish or Italian coast. I would have to wade through old magazines to find out where.

We saw an orca pod when cruising the bay of islands in January. I saw this very tall and triangular dorsal fin just keep coming out of the water, like the sail of a submarine when surfacing - the fin was huge. It was a highlight of our trip, as was a visit from a pod of false killer whales when crossing Bass Strait.

I love seeing majestic animals when I sail, kayak and hike.

cheers

Phil

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Ping, were those sinkings due to Orcas? My (oft fallible)memory is that they were some manner of proper whales.

Jim

From 'Survive the Savage Sea' - 'Killer whales ' said Douglas ' all sizes , about 20 of them'

Not sure about the Baileys.

[chrisr]

there was a mono sunk by a whale a 3 - 4 weeks ago between Galapagos and Marquesas, but i'm almost certain orcas are innocent of that one...

cheers,

[El Pinguino]

Not hard to tell the two apart - the true orca and the false. The false has what looks like a normal dolphin dorsal, the the true has that very tall one- the tip of which often flops over.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by chrisr

there was a mono sunk by a whale a 3 - 4 weeks ago between Galapagos and Marquesas, but i'm almost certain orcas are innocent of that one...

cheers,

I think that was boat hits whale, not whale hits boat.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Ryban

Your straw-manning my point. If an Orca is actually attacking a vessel, and trying to sink it, I think people can and will defend themselves. That's fine.

I was arguing against the suggested solution of culling orcas because they are getting curious about boats. I think the prudent solution would be to collect more data, and in the meantime, for vessels to take precautionary actions.

I will say though that I am very grateful we have a giant transom hung rudder, and not one that is only supported by the rudder post.

Then we are in complete agreement. I never suggested culling curious orca’s; I suggested culling the ones who are sinking boats, which is one or maybe a couple descendants of her.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Adelie

Are you saying that sailors should preemptively shoot Orcas that get close to their boat because they might damage the boat?

You can see I didn’t write that, all the comments are in the thread.

But you can bet I will shoot the one ramming me or biting into my rudder and trying to rip it off.