It all started with a tremendous blow. Then the
Anyway
vehemently spun on its axis until the bow pointed in the same direction it had come from. Had it hit a rock? Brandon Miller looked out to sea and saw nothing. He took the helm of the sailboat, but a mysterious force snatched it from his hands. I was terrified. Finally, he saw an orca next to the boat. And he understood what had happened, remember today. That day, March 23, shortly before sunset, the Strait of Gibraltar was calm and, after the onslaught of the cetacean, the American sailor and his girlfriend, the German Katharina Weber, sent an SOS message by radio. The
Anyway
it had been left ungovernable and adrift off the coast of Tangier. The Moroccan authorities gave no signs of life, but from the Spanish shore, Salvamento Marítimo sent help to rescue the ship and tow it to the port of Tarifa. A few weeks after the incident, the couple are sitting on the deck of their ship, moored at a wooden jetty. Both had planned to sail to the Canary Islands and, from there, set sail for America. But the sailboat was badly damaged by the collision and the chances of repairing it are uncertain. "We racked our brains to find out why the orcas did this," says Weber. "But we have no answer." Miller adores animals and says he can't be mad at them. The sea is his home, he insists, "and we, the guests."
For just over a year, killer whales have been attacking boats on the Atlantic coast of the Peninsula, especially in the Strait of Gibraltar. And they have thrown marine biologists into disarray. When the first incident off the coast of Cádiz was reported in July 2020, no one took it seriously. Since then and until the middle of this month of August, 145 cases have been counted. Possibly more, because many affected do not know that they can report these incidents. Most researchers don't talk about attacks, but about interactions. They don't want to blame these protected cetaceans for malicious intent. This is a new phenomenon, of which only one similar incident has been documented: in 1972, a group of killer whales capsized a sailboat off the Galapagos.The six family members on board were saved on a life raft and rescued by fishermen 38 days later.
Katharina Weber and Brandon Miller, aboard their sailboat 'Anyway' in the port of Tarifa (Cádiz). Tim Röhn
However, the increasing number of collisions in the Strait seems to rule out that they are random events.
Why do animals suddenly have this behavior?
What do they want to achieve?
At the moment there is no answer.
It is also unclear why, when the damage is done, the killer whales let go of the boats, without further ado.
Just like humans do, orcas hunt in the waters of the Strait of Gibraltar, where tunas gather in spring on their way to the Mediterranean from the Atlantic to spawn. Only 14 kilometers separate the shores of Europe and Africa, and fishermen tend their nets - the traditional trap - or cast their longlines. And prey swim into those traps. The killer whales have their own technique: they chase the tuna until they are exhausted, and then they fall.
The sighting of killer whales has become one of the tourist attractions of Tarifa, in whose souvenir shops the image of these cetaceans is multiplied in paintings, mugs and t-shirts.
In its streets, brochures are distributed daily advertising boat trips to observe them.
In the 1990s, there were about 400 visitors a year;
today there are more than 30,000.
If there is no storm, four or five boats set sail each day in high season.
The rates are around 50 euros.
Spotting dolphins and pilot whales is almost guaranteed, but the killer whales are the stars.
Damage to a sailboat in the port of Barbate (Cádiz) Tim Röhn
It is a morning in July. One of those tourist boats has been sailing for half an hour through the Straits when, suddenly, the agitation on board spreads. “They're killer whales!” Someone yells, and 100 heads turn to port. A black and white colossus appears, sending a jet of steam into the air. Katharina Heyer, owner of the boat, utters from the captain's cabin: "It's
Lucia
!"
About 60 of these animals roam the Strait of Gibraltar every summer.
Some of them have been identified and christened by Heyer and his crew.
The one before his eyes,
Lucia
, is one of the females and shows a wound on the dorsal fin.
In early 2017, she had a baby, Little
Star.
Camorro
is the largest orca of the group, a male.
His mother is
Matriarcha.
And then there's
Wilson,
who was probably born in October 2014. This day in July, half a dozen of these cetaceans approach the tourist boat, dive under its hull, and swim past it.
The show goes on for an hour.
The passengers shout with joy.
Moroccan fishermen in the Strait of Gibraltar.Tim Röhn
There are an estimated 50,000 killer whales worldwide. They can measure up to 10 meters, weigh up to five and a half tons and reach 80 years of life. They are sociable and very intelligent. They are most common in the North Pacific, North Atlantic, and polar seas. In Europe, the coast of Norway is the busiest. In the Iberian Peninsula, where it is estimated that a few dozen specimens live, they move between Galicia and the Strait of Gibraltar. Groups of killer whales move through the oceans, each one has its dialect to communicate through beeps and whistles. The animals in each group stay together their entire lives; they learn from each other.
They do not attack people, or at least it is not documented. But humans do not always behave well with the oceans and, therefore, with their inhabitants. Currently banned chemicals called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been used for decades as plasticizers in paints, as components for electricity and as hydraulic fluid. It is a poison that floats in the seas of the planet and affects animals, which ingest it through food. In 2018, an international team of researchers warned in the journal
Science
that PCBs could wipe out huge killer whale populations. In the most polluted areas, some populations of these cetaceans could disappear in 30 or 40 years. Concentrations of up to 1,300 milligrams per kilogram of weight have been found in the fatty tissue of animals. And researchers believe PCBs are one of the reasons killer whales are reproducing so poorly. "In contaminated areas, we only rarely see newborn specimens," wrote co-author Ailsa Hall of the Scottish University of St. Andrews. This is because your immune and reproductive system deteriorates from 50 milligrams per kilo. Killer whales on the southern coast of Spain are among the most exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls, since the Strait is a highly polluted area.The press spoke at the time of the "silent killer" of the killer whales.
A wrecked tuna after an orca encounter.Tim Röhn
However, these animals do not detect the venom.
So there must be other unknown reasons why they suddenly interact against ships.
Last fall, a dozen specialists, including marine scientists, biologists, veterinarians and ship captains, came together to investigate.
They have formed a working group called Orca Ibérica.
They record incidents, collect data and interview crews that have had contact with cetaceans.
One afternoon in July, Eva Chiara Carpinelli drives from Tarifa to Barbate.
This 39-year-old Italian biologist came to the coast of Cádiz in 2009 to develop her master's thesis on the behavior of sperm whales in the Strait.
He stayed.
And in 2018 he founded the Nereide association, whose goal is to protect the environment.
In Barbate, Carpinelli meets with Alric Rouch and Gaspard Camphuis, two French sailors who were diverted this week from their course by killer whales.
Rouch was heading to the Canary Island of Lanzarote with two friends.
Camphuis
he had come down the Portuguese coast with his wife, Ingrid, looking for the Mediterranean.
In front of Barbate the killer whales destroyed the rudders of both ships, which are now in dry dock.
Alric Rouch's, turned into junk.
The one in Camphuis can probably be repaired.
Eva Chiara Carpinelli, biologist, interviews two victims of killer whale attacks, Gaspard Camphuis and Alric Rouch, in Barbate. Tim Röhn
In a restaurant on the seafront, Carpinelli listens to the story and asks questions. “I heard the whistle of the killer whales,” Camphuis says, “and they started going for the oars. We were very scared ”. Rouch bangs the table to explain: “Knock, knock, knock. It was like that all the time. The hull was covered in dents. That the Strait is a risky area is no longer a secret among sailors. "We knew the danger," explains Rouch. That is why he sailed close to the coast. "We thought that would help us." Camphuis nods. He believed that the proximity to the coast would protect him. He was wrong. That's where the orcas prefer to stay because that's where the bluefin tuna is. Camphuis says that he and his wife had read on boating forums before the trip,they spoke with other boaters and contacted port authorities to find out if any recent incidents had been reported. "We had the security protocol, and we stuck to it," says Camphuis. "If not, it might have been worse."
This protocol, prepared by Orca Ibérica for the case of contacting these cetaceans on the high seas, is being disseminated through social networks and yacht clubs.
The basic tips are: stop the boat, lower the sails, disconnect the autopilot and release the rudder;
alert the authorities;
move to a place on the ship where pieces cannot fall;
do not yell at the animals, do not touch them and try to film or photograph the killer whales, especially their dorsal fin, for possible later identification.
And after a while, see if the boat can be steered: if not, request a trailer.
Alric Rouch, victim of a killer whale attack, in front of his ship in the port of Barbate.Tim Röhn
The researcher Carpinelli stores the information on her mobile, she does not want to forget any questions to her two interlocutors. Place, time and duration of the interaction? Rouch responds: “Eleven miles south of Barbate; June 30, at 7:45 pm ”. Camphuis: “Four miles south of Barbate; July 7, at 12:30; two hours and half". Speed at the beginning of the interaction? Rouch: "Five to six knots." Camphuis: "A little slower." Number of animals? Rouch: “Three. Two big killer whales, one small one ”. Camphuis: "Seven, of all sizes." Other details? Alric Rouch describes how the killer whales were gaining momentum with the waves to push the boat harder. “At one point, the baby killer whale turned on its back and flapped its flippers. As if he was making fun of us ”. For its part,Camphuis recounts how two of them lifted the boat from both sides. Another approached the helm. Even when the Maritime Rescue lifeguards were already towing them ashore, the killer whales continued to follow them for 20 minutes.
Experienced French sailors are curious: Can a pattern of behavior be deduced?
Are there commonalities in the incidents?
Carpinelli goes over his notes and shrugs.
"No, there is nothing so far."
The questions pile up.
Does it happen more during the day or at night?
"More during the day," says Carpinelli.
"Is it a new phenomenon?" Asks Rouch.
“Yes”, before the killer whales used to approach sailing boats, “but it was a simple interest, without contact”.
Now it is different.
An orca, spotted from a whale watching boat in the Strait of Gibraltar.Tim Röhn
Ruth Esteban is a marine biologist and a great expert on killer whales.
He lived in the Strait for 15 years, and in 2015 he wrote his doctoral thesis, entitled
Ecology of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the south of the Iberian Peninsula.
. Working for the organization Circe was able to identify up to 40 specimens in the area. Killer whales have a pale gray spot, unique to them, behind their dorsal fin. It's your fingerprint. Esteban went out to sea in his small boat to follow the cetaceans, photograph them and study their behavior. In 2017, he emigrated to Madeira. He helped create the Iberian Orca working group, instructs other scientists to talk to the affected sailors, receives the collected data and evaluates it. “When I left the region four years ago”, Esteban relates, “I noticed that the killer whales had become more curious with the passage of time, especially the young ones”. But touch the ships, collide with them? "No never".
Scientists are fed up with the sensational reports surrounding the matter. That explains why the exchange of information with Esteban and his team for this report is not easy. They want to know in advance what questions are going to be asked and what their objective is. Cristina Martín, a researcher from the group, says that it is "totally forbidden" to speak of "attacks." Encounters? Either. Insist on the term "interactions." But the question remains the same: why these interactions? Martín shakes his head: "You don't have to speculate." Last fall, researchers concluded that only three animals were responsible for the incidents. They called them
Black Gladis, Gray Gladis,
and
White Gladis
, all young specimens.
The Orca Ibérica group published a graph showing the lesions of
Gladis gris
.
What had happened to the animal?
Did you want revenge?
If we go back, we come across other incidents where at least there was a suspicion that orcas might have taken revenge on humans.
Tilikum
, for example, was captured off Iceland in 1983 and locked up in theme parks in Canada and the United States, where she was implicated in the deaths of three people.
The documentary
Blackfish
raises the question of whether that killer whale could have avenged itself for decades of suffering in captivity.
However, it does not give a clear answer.
The fisherman Gregorio Linde, in the port of Tarifa.Tim Röhn
When the cases of Spain became known in the fall of 2020, some media were quick to draw conclusions. The British tabloid newspaper
The Sun,
for example, wrote about a "runaway group of killer whales" that was provoking "revenge." Esteban and his family didn't like it, so they've kept a low profile ever since. "Killer whales have always had a bad press," says Esteban. "And we want to prevent people from reacting aggressively." Something that has happened in the last few months. In March, Italian sailors fired a flare at a group of killer whales after colliding with them off Gibraltar. It can be seen in a video that lasts seven minutes posted on the internet. Other unconfirmed reports speak of sailors who have attacked orcas with spears to drive them away.
The data suggest that the killer whales belonging to two groups are the ones that approach the boats.
At the end of last July, there were several incidents in a few days.
"It would be nice to see them again," says Ruth Esteban, "but even then I wouldn't understand."
Because what has been happening for the last year does not make "any biological sense," he insists.
The German-Uruguayan Jörn Selling, a marine biologist for one of Tarifa's tour operators for 17 years, suggests that the behavior could be a consequence of the first closure of the coronavirus.
In those days, as of March 2020, there were no sailboats in the region for just under three months, and then they slammed back.
"Their return may have been stressful," he suggests.
Another explanation that Selling offers is a possible conflict with the fishermen.
A sailboat in front of the beach in Tarifa.Tim Röhn
Fisherman Gregorio Linde is at the fish auction and shows a photo of a tuna with a bitten belly.
"An orca," he says.
"Sometimes adults teach their kids how to steal a tuna from our lines."
Linde laughs: “It's quite normal.
At the end of the day, we want the same ”.
Linde says there is enough for everyone.
Attacking orcas for a stolen fish, out of rage?
"Never".
A scientist who has studied killer whales for decades and wants to remain anonymous has another assumption: that some sailors have done something to those animals.
He shows photos of injured killer whales and tells that shortly before that July 20, 2020 there had been an “encounter” of killer whales with a fishing boat.
"For fear of losing their prey, they shot the animals with a harpoon," he says.
"It was too much".
After her interviews with the French sailors, Eva Carpinelli is back at the Nereide headquarters in Tarifa.
Your report is ready.
"Animals are not just looking for something, but they want to communicate and make it clear," he says.
"Something happened, they communicated with each other, and now they are taking action against the sailboats."
An assessment that the Orca Ibérica group does not subscribe to.
On the border between Europe and Africa, the illegal drug and migrant trade flourishes.
In addition to the container ships and cruise ships, excursion boats do not always maintain the required minimum distance of 60 meters with the animals.
But what happens in the water usually stays in the water.
In Ceuta, nine dolphins were found dead on a beach in April with their fins cut off and their bodies shot.
Who did it and why no one knows.
The fisherman Francisco Castro, in Tarifa.Tim Röhn
The American neuroscientist Lori Marino published in 2004 a study on the neuroanatomy of killer whales. "I've been studying their brains for 30 years and it's fascinating," he says in a video call. “Some parts of their brains - like the limbic system - are similar to those of humans. They have an emotional life even more complex than ours. He thinks that it is impossible to reduce incidents with ships to a single emotion.
At the beginning of August, not far from the port of Tarifa, the fisherman Francisco Castro shows a video recorded in March of this year. You can see some killer whales that do not let go of their boat, a small wooden boat. "Look, look, look! They even try to lift it, ”he says agitated. “It was the first time they got so close to me. And I've been fishing here since 1995, ”he says. A week later, during another conversation in a bar, the fisherman picks up his mobile again. Again a video, taken on August 11 at 17.04. There is no doubt, several killer whales are altering Castro's ship, colliding with him from different sides. "Something is wrong". But what? "I think someone has hurt the animals," he says. And he adds: "I am worried that something very unpleasant is about to happen." Eva Carpinelli, the marine biologist,you are surprised when you learn about these incidents. He plans to contact Castro as soon as possible.