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Old 15-11-2020, 14:26   #1
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Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

Hi, I'm not sure if this subject has already become verboten or not, but this just crossed my mind when I read this recent BBC article:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/buq...spain-portugal

You know, bears do the trash-diving when they get fed up with their paleo-diet, and orcas on arctic waters invite seals and penguins for dinner by flipping over the ice chunks where they are hanging around.

On that BBC article, they interview a scientist who claims that this 'Gladis pod' is from the same family/clan that invented to eat the tuna from long lines. Some orcabody perhaps got the idea "Hey, they spool the fishing lines back to boat - ergo, fish should be there! Let's flip the old bugger's boat over and get 'our' fish back! Har-har!"

And, why not? It might also be that several distressed cruisers on sailboats have made the situation even worse by throwing their food to sea. "Har-har! It worked! Silly sod just dumped his muffins". Perhaps they had already left sailboats alone if it has never worked.

Just a thought. Orca's life isn't exactly easy to start with, and they are very manoeuvreable and not wimps, so it might be that they don't hold grudges for their encounters with props and keels.

But if there has been an actual and real catch on rocking the fishermens boats, this becomes a completely different story. Would those fishermen publicly admit that 'Orcas ate my homework' ?


So, before any substantial evidence appears, let's try to not feed these trolls. I mean, if rocking the boats works, they keep doing it.

Cheers.
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Old 15-11-2020, 15:27   #2
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

Their common name is "killer whales." Ever wonder how that came about?
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Old 15-11-2020, 19:05   #3
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

There were a couple of long threads of this topic about a month ago. Bottom line was lots of speculation but no real answers.
What would you do if an Orca started bumping your boat?

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Old 15-11-2020, 19:41   #4
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

When will this orca cartoon comedy end. Next we will see the kraken eat the cat on the Ken and Barbie boat blog.
If you are really interested in orcas, sit on a ice floe and bark like a seal.
One will be along shortly.
Roll the credits. This is a wrap.
Happy trails to you
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Old 15-11-2020, 20:51   #5
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

The marine biologist I asked about this said that it is play behavior, even though it is scary as heck to the sailboats, it is not intended as an attack.

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Old 16-11-2020, 08:50   #6
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

LESSON: Make sure you have a backup rudder, always,

...set-up to mount a @big dingy rudder@ on the transome somehow, or in a locker or made by bolting locker lids together....have a jury rigged rudder!

Or spoil yourself and by a self steering system that has an independent rudder, like the Hydrovane and a few others..
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Old 16-11-2020, 09:25   #7
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

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LESSON: Make sure you have a backup rudder, always,

...set-up to mount a @big dingy rudder@ on the transome somehow, or in a locker or made by bolting locker lids together....have a jury rigged rudder!

Or spoil yourself and by a self steering system that has an independent rudder, like the Hydrovane and a few others..


What about feeding them with some rather unatractive food.....maybe a bait with a huge efervescent tablett tablett inside ? I remember a scene many years ago whith someone disencouraging agressive begging dogs by throwghing them efervescent aspirin pills.

Capt. Claus - ocean tramp of the eighties.
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Old 16-11-2020, 09:38   #8
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

Here we go again,
Orca= wolf of the sea
Killer whale given to them by Europeans when they stared to see their hunting behaviour
Truly is an orca wanted to eat the person on board I can assure you they would ram your boat until it took on water then wait until your flapping about and then eat you,
There has been a few recorded incidents when an orc has holed a boat, one was were a female was trapped in a net and sent out calls,
Two others Appeared and raked the boat putting the fishermen in the water, they were ignored
Another more scientific analysis was done with divers and snorkel people off of Norway were the pod was hunting the herring, they found with hundreds of hours of footage no aggressive manoeuvres towards the people in the water
Let’s stop assuming they are attacking, because there is no purpose to the attack, wild animals do not attack for fun, they do so for food ,
There is no food in a plastic rudder, this is curious behaviour by juveniles and more than likely play and curiosity, yes it can be scared and expensive, but at least your alive , no body gets hurt in these encounters , just shameful accusations.
Feel privileged you can sail on the oceans of the world and expect some encounters with the residence. Or do not go simply really
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Old 16-11-2020, 09:44   #9
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

I've had them chase our boat but never made contact. This behavior seems very much the same and it seems that this is the consensus in the scientific community. Doesn't make it more fun for those in the boat. I'm guessing it's juvenile males being dicks as young men are apt to do.

Having been among them my thoughts are that if the orca wanted what was in the boat it would have what's in the boat.

Despite the name there's never been a documented case of a healthy orca causing bodily harm to a human in the wild. It's simply dangerous to the whales to look at this as aggressive.
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Old 16-11-2020, 09:51   #10
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

Disclaimer: I am not a marine biologist. This is just speculation.

Orcas hunt and kill whales. Maybe they think boats are whales until they have rammed them a couple of times. My understanding is that they go after young calves by attacking the mother first. But if they think there is a sick or dead whale on the surface than it is fair game.
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Old 16-11-2020, 10:31   #11
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

Some misconceptions here. First the name "killer whale" is a misnomer, it was "whale killer". Second, they are big dolphins and their behavior is similar. Third, they are safe to swim with. Fourth, they generally don't attack boats, certainly not without good reason though that reason may not be known to us. Fifth, they are perfectly able to read our emotions, frightening us a little is hilarious to them, if they can sneak up on you and do their equivalent of saying " boo" they will, your reaction amuses them. The important thing to remember is that despite a macabre sense of humor they will do you no harm intentionally.
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Old 16-11-2020, 13:49   #12
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

I really wonder what would the young male orcas do if the mariner were to jump in the sea while the whales were actually right there at the boat and putting a biting on the rudder? I would not have the courage to do so, despite the oft repeated “no recorded attacks against a human”. Those boys might not be capable of exercising impulse control.
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Old 16-11-2020, 14:26   #13
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

They are probably quite good at impulse control, behaviour within the pod is held to a high standard by the matriarch. That said, my first swim with orca was most certainly not voluntary or intended. These guys are very clever, quite possibly our equals or betters, they have 4 lobes to their brains compared with our 3.
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Old 16-11-2020, 17:16   #14
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

Here is a real world description by a solo sailor, who had whales encircle him while playing music said to be similar to whale song on the bay of Biscay

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Old 16-11-2020, 19:03   #15
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Re: Gladis Orcas - do they try to bust the boats for fish?

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Originally Posted by boatman1 View Post
I really wonder what would the young male orcas do if the mariner were to jump in the sea while the whales were actually right there at the boat and putting a biting on the rudder? I would not have the courage to do so, despite the oft repeated “no recorded attacks against a human”. Those boys might not be capable of exercising impulse control.
Used to be a pod of Dolphins that hung out right at he pass in Panama City, they were there because they desired contact with humans, and gasp some evil people would even feed them.
We would often stop there and watch them coming back from a dive, one day my 12 yr old daughter jumped off of the boat accidentally right onto the back of a baby one, with the Mother right there, Mom didn’t react except to push the baby away.
Scared me because of course she could easily have seriously hurt my Daughter, but she didn’t.
I think they are far more intelligent and compassionate than we give them credit for.

And yes, the juvenile males do run in packs and get into mischief, and are PIA’s to other dolphins
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