Orca Attacks on Boats Surge in Gibraltar Strait, Raising Concerns

Orcas, also known as killer whales (Orcinus orca), have damaged more than 250 boats in the region since the start of the wave of attacks in 2020, according to DIVE Magazine. In total, four boats have been sunk over the past two years. Recently, these cetaceans attacked and sank a fourth boat in the Mediterranean Sea. The sailboat Grazie Mamma, owned by the Polish company Morskie Mile, was targeted off the Moroccan coast in what was described as a "relentless" 45-minute attack in the afternoon of October 31. The hull was so damaged that the ship began to take on water. Rescued by the Moroccan navy, the boat sank as it was being towed to the port of Tanger-Med.

An officially recognized group of 35 orcas, known as the Strait of Gibraltar subpopulation (also called the Iberian population by Spanish environmentalists), is behind the attacks in the narrow channel that connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Among these cetaceans, a matriarch known as White Gladis who would lead her clan in a "fight" against humans. This would be a revenge motivated by a kind of trauma suffered by Gladis. Certainly there is little evidence to confirm this hypothesis, but the orcas could have reasons to feel threatened by the boats.

To read: article 103337

The Strait of Gibraltar is very busy with maritime traffic, industrial tankers and cargo ships crossing the Gulf of Suez. In addition, fishing boats gather in the strait to fish for Atlantic bluefin tuna. Renaud de Stephanis, orca specialist and president of Conservation, Information and Research on Cetaceans (CIRCE), who has been studying orcas since 1996, does not embrace the hypothesis that orcas are trying to destroy boats. "They push, push, push - boom! It’s a game," he told the BBC. And to continue: "That’s all it is. Imagine a 6, 7 year old child, weighing three tons. That’s it, nothing less, nothing more. If they wanted to destroy the boat, they would do it in 10 minutes."