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ARCHIVED - Two sailing boats towed to port in 24 hours after killer whale attacks in the Strait of Gibraltar
There have been more than 20 confrontations between orcas and sailing boats in the area since April
Two sailing vessels have suffered damage in the last 24 hours, caused by killer whales swimming through the Strait of Gibraltar. The two boats have had to be towed by Maritime Rescue to the port of Barbate (Cadiz).
The latest episode occurred today, Tuesday May 24, when a sailing boat called ‘Cachaca’, which was seven miles southwest of Barbate collided with a pod of orcas.
The boat, which is 14 metres long, had three crew members on board at the time of the incident who requested help from the Salvamento Marítimo rescue team. The vessel Salvamar Enif promptly towed the Cachaca into the port of Barbate, and another similar incident occurred in the same area at 7.20am yesterday morning, with the victim boat also needing to be towed by Maritime Rescue to the port of the town of Cadiz.
These two new interactions between orcas and sailing boats in the Strait of Gibraltar are in addition to the twenty that have been recorded since the beginning of April, and which have left the rudder of at least ten vessels unusable.
Although the causes of these episodes are still under investigation, specialists believe that killer whales may be attracted by the rubbing of the rudder blades of sailing boats, which do not emit noises that would scare them away when they are travelling without an engine.
These meetings also occur especially in areas close to where there are fishing traps, areas where killer whales also concentrate in search of bluefin tuna.
Last summer, when up to 3 September at least 69 contacts with sailing boats were recorded, 30 of which required towing because they lost their rudder, there was a significant increase in these incidents, which led to a ban on sailboats of less than 15 metres in the inlet of Barbate.
This year, the decision to re-establish this ban has not yet been taken, but it is pending the advice of the Atlantic Killer Whale Working Group, which brings together specialists and scientists from the Strait of Gibraltar, Galicia, Portugal and France.
You might also like: Spanish sailors reveal what you should do if you meet a killer whale on the water
Image: Salvamento Marítimo
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