KILLER whales have once again attacked boats off the coast of Spain, with two “rammings” happening just minutes apart.
Both incidents, described by crew members as “very scary”, took place in the waters of Galicia, north-west Spain, where numerous pods have been spotted in recent weeks.
GettyThe orcas destroyed the rudder of the first boat and caused a leak in the second (file image)[/caption]
The first attack was just off the coast of O Grove, situated on the mouth of the Arousa estuary, and hugely popular with tourists, the second was north of the island of Ons.
The orcas destroyed the rudder of the first boat and caused a leak in the second.
“The truth is that we were very scared; we were actually really ‘scared’ when we realised that the killer whales were hitting the boat,” said one of the crew members of the attacked boats.
Environmentalists say the whales are in continuous movement between North Africa, southern Spain, the Cantabrian Sea and the coast of France.
They are believed to be chasing their favorite prey, such as bluefin tuna and even octopus.
“This coming and going means that there are frequent interactions between these cetaceans and recreational boats, as has happened again in the waters of O Grove and moments later, also in Ons,” said one scientist.
The same orcas, a mother and her calf, are thought to have been involved in both encounters, the first of them affecting a wooden galleon recovered in Arousa and named “San Pedro“, which was on his way to meet traditional boats from Combarro.
The San Pedro was sailing on a motor and at the time of suffering the onslaught, had slowed down to set sail. In fact, one of the sail was already up.
“It was a quarter past six in the evening when we felt two knocks and when we looked, we saw that there were two orcas and that the rudder was destroyed,” the skipper told Spanish newspaper Faro de Viga.
When he looked closely, both he and the other four crew members on board “saw that there was an orca about seven metres long and a smaller one swimming next to it.”
The rudder was destroyed in the attack and the boat had to be towed into dock by Maritime Rescue but no-one was hurt.
When the rescue ship had towed San Pedro to safety, it went back out to sea as another boat had raised the alert after suffering a leak as a result of an attack by orcas and was drifting.
It was also towed back to port.
“All this is due to absolutely normal behaviour on the part of wild animals, which as such are unpredictable and move continuously, play and have behaviours that can be dangerous for humans.
“That is why we insist on asking for caution and demanding that recreational ships do not approach,” said Bruno Díaz López, doctor in Ecology who directs the Institute for the Study of Bottlenose Dolphins (BDRI).
“We already explained last year that, in one way or another, killer whales will be in Galicia until autumn, as they come and go between southern Spain and France chasing prey such as tuna, so it is inevitable that sometimes they will bump into boats or enter the estuaries.”
He says that in the most common group on the Galician coast, there are “three especially active specimens that seem to have become accustomed to interacting with boats and will continue to do so”.
GettyThe same orcas are thought to have been involved in both attacks (file image)[/caption]