Orcas attack boats again: Last Saturday, a group of killer whales damaged a Norwegian yacht that was sailing near Sesimbra, Portugal, south of Lisbon. After the attacks, the sailboat lost, among other things, stere. Her two passengers, Arnt Remy Åvik-Langstrand and Glenn Benelex Larsen, estimate that 2-3 orcs attacked them. The men called for help, which was answered by the NQ merchant ship passing nearby Dewwho monitored the situation for two hours until the Portuguese rescue unit arrived.
Problems in the Strait of Gibraltar: Killer whales have been attacking ships in the Strait of Gibraltar for a long time. According to the Atlantic Orca Working Group, it has been reported in the last five years 700 such accidents. In the past, he suffered from this, among others: Polish “Grazie Mamma II” yacht, Morskie Mile company. Number attacks has been growing since 2000. However, there have been fewer of them in recent years. While about 60 attacks were recorded in 2023, last year there were half as many.
Why do killer whales attack boats? Martin Biuw from the Institute of Maritime Research in Norway emphasizes that it is not clear why orcas attack boats. Sam agrees with the theory that it is fun or exercise before attacking larger prey. However, he adds that this is only speculation.
More You will learn about killer whale attacks from the article “Mysterious attacks off the coast of Spain. Killer whales teach their young how to sink boats”.