Yacht sinks after latest incident involving orcas in strait of Gibraltar ( www.theguardian.com )

An unknown number of orcas have sunk a yacht after ramming it in Moroccan waters in the strait of Gibraltar, Spain’s maritime rescue service has said, in the latest in a series of similar incidents involving the animals.

The vessel, Alboran Cognac, which measured 15 metres (49ft) in length and carried two people, encountered the highly social apex predators, also known as killer whales, at 9am local time on Sunday.

The passengers reported feeling sudden blows to the hull and rudder before the boat started taking on water. After alerting the rescue services, a nearby oil tanker took them onboard and transported them to Gibraltar. The yacht was left adrift and eventually sank.

The incident is the latest example of recurring orca rammings around the Gibraltar strait that separates Europe from Africa and off the Atlantic coast of Portugal and north-western Spain. Experts believe them to involve a subpopulation of about 15 individuals given the designation “Gladis”.

riodoro1 ,

How did they manage to break the hull?

Evotech ,

Fucking yeet

Cort ,

I'm guessing fiberglass not a steel hull. So ramming it with the momentum of a small whale would delaminate or crack it.

riodoro1 ,

That’s why im surprised. The laminate on those boats is pretty damn thick. It takes a lot of force to break it. Blunt meat impacts don’t sound like enough but maybe at this scale it is.

girlfreddy OP ,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

According to the Cruising Association, three yachts were sunk in 2022 and 2023 after orca interactions. As Fantini says, breaking the rudder completely can open a hole, and water can rush in, sinking the boat. Even those sailing in sturdy racing boats, with back-up rudders and rescue services close by, can find the experience frightening.

There's a video on the source page of the orcas banging against the rudder.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230626-why-are-orcas-suddenly-ramming-boats

fritobugger2017 ,

A 49ft sail boat is not exactly a yacht. The orcas need to move up to bigger targets like the mega yachts of the oligarchs. Time to arm the orcas.

JayleneSlide ,

There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a yacht, as opposed to a boat, such a pleasure vessel is likely to be at least 33 feet (10 m) in length and may have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacht

That said, I'm all for training and arming the cetaceans.

ColdWater ,
@ColdWater@lemmy.ca avatar

LOL nice

scroll_responsibly ,
@scroll_responsibly@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

🫡

Semi_Hemi_Demigod ,
@Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

Nature is healing

HuddaBudda ,
@HuddaBudda@kbin.social avatar

Evolution adapts to multiple problems at once.

A pod of orcas that vigorously defend their food supply, get to eat, and train their offspring to also defend their food supplies.

Orcas that don't, either die off, or adapt to a different food source.

Thus why climate change is becoming a problem as nature is adapting to food sources becoming less abundant.

and wildlife becoming unfriendly or inedible to adapt to the changes.

SpaceNoodle ,

I hate it when wildlife becomes inedible

Daft_ish ,

Can confirm, this wildlife is not sitting well.

GregorGizeh , (edited )

My only worry with this is that we start hunting them to eradicate or at least contain a threat, like we do to most wild animals who could potentially, perhaps, maybe, harm a human intruding on their habitat and territory. Like wolves in europe, we carefully reintroduce them after almost eradicating them entirely, they do what wolves do and prey on some livestock here and there, and people immediately ask for them to be culled.

fritobugger2017 ,

We have likely killed most of their normal food sources

SlopppyEngineer ,

That's basically the intro from The Swarm

Kaput ,

Theory that just poped in my mind, orcas have been hurt by large boat are now attacking small ones to kill them before they grow.

JoMiran ,
@JoMiran@lemmy.ml avatar

There is a theory I read that said that it was indeed a boat that accidentally killed a female's infant. She attacked and figured out that hitting the rudder would make them stop and then she proceeded to teach the pod.

Another I read was that it started as juvenile Orcas just fucking about and now it's turned into a preferred pastime. AKA, Orca hooligans.

Both seem anecdotal and not scientifically provable though.

dogslayeggs ,

While whale watching in Sea of Cortez, they were saying one small pod of juvenile orcas are straight up dicks. They will attack anything and everything, including taking down blue whales.

I can absolutely see this as hooliganism.

ProvableGecko ,

juvenile Orcas just fucking about

Youths

eestileib ,

Y00tz

FlyingSquid Mod ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

The play thing seems to be the favored hypothesis by biologists at present.

And I kind of love it. Rich people lose their boats because orcas think they're fun to sink.

fritobugger2017 ,

The owner's of a 49ft sail boat isn't exactly the kind of "rich" that needs to be targeted.

ripcord ,
@ripcord@lemmy.world avatar

Was there any evidence of any of those or are those theories just fanfic?

JoMiran ,
@JoMiran@lemmy.ml avatar

They were able to trace the start of the behavior down to a single female. All the pods that are doing this are related to her. The "why" did they start is the mystery.

Daft_ish ,

Save the whales has regularly been my own personal credo. Who knew it was the whales that would save us.

Duamerthrax ,

Arm The Whales!

We need to make them metal armor with Naval Rams on them.

sagrotan ,
@sagrotan@lemmy.world avatar

Eat the rich.

FuglyDuck ,
@FuglyDuck@lemmy.world avatar

Ew. Junk food worse than McDonald’s.

theacharnian ,

Hahaha

boatsnhos931 ,

Welp, it's been nice knowing ya orcas. See you in the extinct animals wiki

dlpkl ,

The orcas gave us enough time bring down the bourgeoisie. Now they're taking things into their own flippers.

TransplantedSconie ,
@TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee avatar

They have acquired the taste for the sweetest of man-flesh.

I wish them well on their hunt.

dmtalon ,

From all the reports I've seen so far, they are in fact not attacking humans, just the boats. Unless this has changed.

TxzK ,
@TxzK@lemmy.zip avatar

too bad. I thought they were literally eating the rich

TransplantedSconie ,
@TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee avatar

Give them time. They haven't figured out how to open the can yet.

Bakachu ,

I just read that as well. Or there's just no witnesses. Also read something that they stop attacking if the boat stops.

dmtalon , (edited )

Well I'm interested in this world (sailing/ living on a sailboat) so I've been following fairly close. I don't believe there's any known non aggressive way to stop them. Stopping hasn't been shown to help that I've heard/seen

noxy ,
@noxy@yiffit.net avatar

underwater castle doctrine

Phegan ,

Based orcas

Sabata11792 ,

We should arm the orcas.

nulluser ,

... with frickin laser beams attached to their heads!

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