# This year has reportedly seen a spate of attacks by orcas ("killer whales") against boats in the Strait of Gibraltar **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 14, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611 "2020-09-14T21:57:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/42 "2023-11-09T03:56:40Z")
Why do we not have an Ambassador To The Cetaceans? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/43 "2023-11-09T04:28:59Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > What makes you think they’re not doing that to orcas now, at least in the few areas orcas are common? Yep, some silly-assed fishman decided to attack an orca “it is eating my fish”, and this is revenge. > [@Stanislaus](#): > > Per the Live Science article above, the experts studying it suspect it started with one traumatized female and has spread. Yep, makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/44 "2023-11-09T11:13:20Z")
Orcas learn new behaviour all the time, and pass it on. A local pod relatively recently learned how tasty Great White Shark liver is, for instance. Probably taught by two new arrivals to the area. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/45 "2023-11-09T12:22:33Z")
I wsa going to say that I’d read their were two type of orcas, those who stayed in the same area and those who travelled widely, but on looking for a [cite](https://www.wildorca.org/ask-an-expert/resident-vs-transient-orcas-whats-the-difference/) I see that this distinction between “resident” and “transient” orcas is not consistent over time but very much dependent on food source availability. > In recent years, with the continuing decline of Chinook salmon, the so-called resident orcas are spending less time in their traditional fishing grounds while they seek salmon in open coastal waters. Transients, whose food is abundant, are spending more time in the Salish Sea. If research started on these orcas today, it’s possible the transients could be labeled resident. > > While these labels have stuck (though unique to the Pacific Northwest orcas), orca biologists prefer to reference differences between populations as “eco-types” which is usually a combination of their prey choices, range and habitat. In any case, it seems that at any given time, there are going to be some orcas travelling long distances and meeting new pods, at which point there’s an opportunity to share behaviour as per @MrDibble’s example. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/46 "2023-11-09T12:27:54Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Why do we not have an Ambassador To The Cetaceans? Because [Agatha Heterodyne](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20200122) isn’t available? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/47 "2023-11-09T13:56:02Z")
Actually, it’s simpler than that. We _have_ sent several emissaries and even an ambassador to the Cetaceans. We’re still struggling to decode their language but in each case the response included the Cetaceans burping, and laying on their backs with their flippers folded contentedly across their bellies. Meanwhile we’ve received no messages from any of our emissaries and believe they have “gone native”. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/48 "2023-11-09T14:37:54Z")
At least it’s better than our laboratory attempts at communication. [![](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/96/b4/9e/96b49e53a7453da93ca7e788a5a023b7.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/96/b4/9e/96b49e53a7453da93ca7e788a5a023b7.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/49 "2023-11-09T14:48:47Z")
If we do succeed in destroying ourselves, the rest of nature certainly isn’t going to miss us. We eat them, subjugate them, destroy their habitats, and endanger their entire world. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/50 "2023-11-09T19:37:12Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [Scientific American thinks it’s an orca fad, like wearing a dead salmon for a hat.](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-has-a-group-of-orcas-suddenly-started-attacking-boats/) > > > [@](#): > > > > Famously, some members of the Southern Resident orcas that cruise Washington’s Puget Sound each summer and fall spent the summer of 1987 wearing dead salmon on their head. There was no apparent reason for salmon hats to come in vogue in orca circles, but the behavior spread and persisted for a few months before disappearing again. > > This could be the next Tik-Tok challenge Let the species that never invented skinny jeans, parachute pants, and sagging, throw the first stone. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/51 "2023-11-17T13:52:35Z")
An interesting solution: Full Title: **Sailors are looking for new ways to ward off orca attacks – and say blasting thrash metal could be a “game changer”** > **[Sailors are looking for new ways to ward off orca attacks – and say blasting...](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/orca-attacks-sailors-thrash-metal-could-be-game-changer/)** > > As killer whales continue to confront vessels, sailors are looking at using sand, fireworks and even Spotify playlists of heavy metal to help deter them. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/52 "2023-11-17T18:06:30Z")
You’d think if any animal liked thrash metal, it would be orcas. Maybe they’re partial to Wagner instead. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2023, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/53 "2023-11-24T14:26:05Z")
Amazingly, this entirely sensible plan doesn’t seem to have worked: > **[Orcas Pummel Boat After Crew Tries To Deter Them With Heavy Metal Music](https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/orcas-attack-boat-heavy-metal_n_6557b843e4b05723e4bd2af0)** > > Blasting underwater tunes to try and keep killer whales away is a bad idea for multiple reasons, a researcher says. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2023, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/54 "2023-11-24T17:50:49Z")
Perhaps they could try elevator music. The orcas will become incredibly bored and move on. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2023, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/55 "2023-11-24T22:09:05Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Perhaps they could try elevator music. Not many small boats _have_ elevators. 😀 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/56 "2023-11-25T00:43:00Z")
The orcas don’t know that. Poison darts stuck to the rudder? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/57 "2023-11-25T16:43:29Z")
Classical music and opera seem to be the default music for deterring vagrants and gang members outside convenience stores. For orcas, having “Sea Cruise” on a loop might be worth trying. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/58 "2023-11-25T18:21:32Z")
Have they tried installing silmarils on the boat’s hull? Oh wait, that only works on orcs, not orcas. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/59 "2023-11-25T18:40:08Z")
I’m going to go with driving ten penny nails through the rudder. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/60 "2023-11-25T20:25:19Z")
It doesn’t get rid of the orcs, but even worse it will sure attract the sons of Feanor, and you don’t want that, believe me ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/61 "2024-05-13T22:06:02Z")
They’re baaa-aaack. > **[Yacht sinks after latest incident involving orcas in strait of Gibraltar](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/13/yacht-sinks-after-latest-incident-involving-orcas-in-strait-of-gibraltar)** > > Vessel measuring 15 metres in length sank after encounter with the animals, Spain’s maritime rescue service reports > 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. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611.md?page=4)