We were attacked by Orcas!!!

[Prairie Chicken]

There are two Guardian articles, one much more detailed than the other. The one quoted on Page 3 is the simpler one. The second, attached, goes into considerable detail about how fishing, marine traffic, etc. have almost decimated the orcas food supplies near Gib. It may be only one pod that are responsible. Fishermen are actively attacking orcas who have learned to eat the tuna off their long lines. "There is one very unscientific phrase I hear repeatedly from several researchers: “Pissed off”. Some speculate that the multitude of stresses these highly sentient cetaceans have endured – years of grieving lost calves, injuries, competition for fish, coupled with a pause and reintroduction of human activity, could have affected their behaviour." It's worth a read. I've also read that turning off depth sounders and engines may help. https://www.theguardian.com/environm...-killer-whales
Oh, and yes, good point about the cats, but it doesn't sound like that's what these attacks are about.

[capn ken]

Originally Posted by Manateeman

Please read my posts on the same subject on the other identical thread.
Please read Susan Smillie article Sunday the 13th in the Gardian.
The concept the orcas “orchestrated an attack” on sailboats is preposterous.
Look at a group of musk ox, or elephants or soccer moms with young.
Start making a lot of noise then run directly towards them fast, real fast.
You won’t get past the musk ox females. After the elephants stomp you, they will pick your carcass up and flip it. They do this to lions. But it’s the soccer moms who will drop you before you get near the young.
Mammal behavior. Orcas are mammals.
Why doesn’t the thread read sailboat attacks orcas. We hear one version of the event which produced free publicity for the Captain and crew.
Not the first time a lucrative book was the result of a whale attack.
One of the posters on the forum describes a frightening encounter with manatees. From his perspective, not a pleasant one to say the least.
I think he swam near a group of frolicking and randy male manatees and one female who just got tired of all the pushing and shoving on the dance floor.
Manatees like to surf.
Seriously, they enjoy it. Orcas like to be towed, so maybe they just bit on the rudder to get a ride. Maybe they felt they were being attacked by fishermen.
Hitting a marine mammal might lead to legal action against any captain who has failed to keep a proper lookout, failed to take necessary action in time to avoid a collision or operated at a speed in excess of given conditions. Violations of the USA Marine Mammals Act provides for stiff fines or criminal prosecution.
It also provides rewards for information on violators.
Manatees do not attack people or boats. Boats hurt manatees.
To an orca, a sail boat is not food. To a female, a fast sailboat might appear to threaten her calf...or it might look like a toy ..or a fishing boat which has caused them injury before. They live in an acoustic world. They are highly intelligent.
Like the elephants or the musk ox or the soccer moms...live and let live.
Happy trails to you.
Captain Mark and his TIG gun toting manatees.

Can’t say as I blame the orcas. See Richard Harris in the movie orca. It does not end well for Richard Harris! Support your right to arm bears!

[skenn_ie]

Death by a thousand cuts ... why is airgun blasting not regulated the same way as explosives ? The oil industry uses them to avoid the expensive bubble net that is required for actual detonations underwater. Airguns are VERY loud, and very frequent when in use.

[skenn_ie]

Originally Posted by capn ken

Can’t say as I blame the orcas. See Richard Harris in the movie orca. It does not end well for Richard Harris! Support your right to arm bears!

I love the final phrase.

[scareygary]

Originally Posted by zstine

Speaking as an American, the obvious solution is to hunt all oras and kill them to near extinction. We can't allow animals to threaten our yachts or safety!

It really is an amazing behavior pattern. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Will it just stop? Will other pods of orcas learn and mimic this?

You might have written 'snark' after your first sentence to remove any doubt. I met a fellow while hiking a trail in the San Juan Islands and told him where I was from in SW Washington. His response, "Oh, I know your town motto: 'Gee, that's cute! Let's kill it.'" Soon after I gave up hunting....

[skenn_ie]

I think the (almost certainly) retalliation will fizzle out. I am convinced that there is inter-specias communication that says "If you are in trouble, most humans will help if you ask them nicely". An African Elephant, after some people had helped get her calf out of a hole, came and touched each of the rescuers on the shoulder. A huimpback whate, having been cut free of a net, breached several times, then came back and looked each of the rescuers in the eye, in turn. Even sharks, have been known to approach divers when they have a hook lodged, or line tangled around them, then remain still while the humans tried to remove the problem.
I wonder if yachtsmen who encounter hostility, held out their hands to try to signal friendship, would it be noticed and accepted. I realise it would take a bit of courage to do so !

[LargeMarge]

Originally Posted by Aurora38

[snip]
an Orca out here in BC who carried her dead calf around in mourning
[snip]

Anthomorphic projection can backfire on me.

Projecting my values on a different species eliminates the uniqueness of that species.
I have zero-zero-zero ability to experience through the senses of another species.

[phstol]

IMO, Orcas don't attack for sport as some have suggested. Like all animals (except human), they must, in their DNA, weigh the downside of an attack - the risk of injuries impairing their subsequent ability to survive.
So why would they attack a sailboat? IMO, this could be traced to negative/disastrous/fatal encounters with fishing boats and other powerboats roughly the same size as the sailboats they attack. The survivors would pass the info to other pods.
I read that orcas pass on information from pod to pod when they meet. Specifically this article reported how one pod learnt from another how to catch penguins, and made them part of its diet.

Per the Smithsonian Magazine - Understanding Orca Culture:
"Researchers have found a variety of complex, learned behaviors that differ from pod to pod. Orcas have evolved complex culture: a suite of behaviors animals learn from one another. ... Scientists have found increasing evidence that culture shapes what and how orcas eat, what they do for fun, even their choice of mates").

Why attack the ruder? IMO b/c of the wake turbulence flowing off the trailing edge of the rudder. Which would be even "dirtier" once the rudder is bent and askew from the initial attack. I imagine that this turbulence would be a beacon to an Orca.
Peter

[NicBeeee]

Seems to me that the Orca in question is using the same technique as it would if disabling another large mammal. Take out its tail fin first. Dont they like to exhaust their prey prior to going for the kill.

[skenn_ie]

I suggest that attacking the rudder is because they have learned that it is a vulnerable part of the boat. I don't believe that wake turbulence, even propellor turbulence, would bother them as 1) it disappears quickly in water, and 2) It wouldn't make anything like the noise of even fairly small waves, particularly breaking waves. Sonar is a possibility, but again, the power of a small-boat sonar is quite low. Ship, particularly, military ships are a different matter.
As for culture, it is well known that some pods/families only eat fish, others only eat mammals and occasionally birds, and the two don't seem to mingle much or cross breed. Pods will actually starve rather than eat the other stuff, if THEIR food is in short supply.

[phstol]

Hi Skenn_ie,My thought is that the rudder is attacked b/c to the Orca, I think it could be a beacon that identifies the rest of the ship as the object that caused previous injury. Also, I'm not saying that the wake turbulence can or needs to be detected from a long distance away, more likely that it becomes an identifying beacon from close-up. Nevertheless I think that it is likely they can pick up turbulence a loong way off as part of their food hunting armament.
Ref your point on culture, yes, tragically you are right about a pod starving if their regular food is not available. Here in the Puget Sound, where pollution and progress have reduced their food, evidence of tht has been reported. I think that is one reason why it was so interesting to see a pod be taught by a friendly pod how to catch an entirely new food for them - penguins.

[skenn_ie]

I would be surprised if they aren't aware of the different shapes and sizes of boats. I would also be surprised if they have been injured by anything other than the fastest. I believe that they would be well aware of accidental harm as opposed to deliberate attack on a family member.
I have heard of dolphins playing chicken, darting under a smallish trawler, just in front of their 6ft prop. A friend who used to be a merchant seaman reported, from a fishing trip in the Philipines, one of the crew said "watch this", and pointed the handle of a btrush at a pod/school? of porpoises. The porpoises immediately vanished. The fisherman said that they used to shoot the animals, but it had been banned for 40 years. The animals STILL recognised what looked like a gun, even though it would have been at least 2 generations since they would have been shot at.

[CKeller]

Originally Posted by PeteTheDeliverySkipper

On Friday we were sailing from Coruna in northern Spain to the UK. A few hours north of Coruna and our rudder was hit numerous times. We couldn't tell what was causing it at first and then an Orca appeared alongside:

We turned the engine off and the Orca swam away. We were left with a damaged rudder and no steering. We had to be towed back in by the coastguard. The Orca then came back for some more and bashed us whislt under tow, so hard that the towing line snapped. All in all pretty scary. It's been happening to other yachts as well. What do you think is going on?

Pete

We dump raw sewage and plastics into their "dining room" We deplete their food source, and are at best, unconcerned about their safety while under way. How would you respond? We also grossly underestimate their intelligence. Black and White lives matter.

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by PeteTheDeliverySkipper

On Friday we were sailing from Coruna in northern Spain to the UK. A few hours north of Coruna and our rudder was hit numerous times. We couldn't tell what was causing it at first and then an Orca appeared alongside:

We turned the engine off and the Orca swam away. We were left with a damaged rudder and no steering. We had to be towed back in by the coastguard. The Orca then came back for some more and bashed us whislt under tow, so hard that the towing line snapped. All in all pretty scary. It's been happening to other yachts as well. What do you think is going on?

Pete

A territorial dispute between an Orca and your boat. Looks like the Orca had the upper hand.

[Lrmroz3]

Originally Posted by seandepagnier

There you have the reason why. The orca took offense to your engine.

I never used an engine and am deeply grateful for the wonderful orca in dealing justice.

Wow that is pretty harsh and wishing anyone to lose steering at sea is a foul thing to wish on anyone. Remember what you wish on other will always come back around