Orcas Attack Boats To Practice Bluefin Catching

Boats encountering orcas or killer whales in the Strait of Gibraltar have become almost commonplace. In the past five years, around 700 incidents have been reported. The endangered and intelligent subspecies, called the Iberian orca, is usually known to be peaceful toward humans. The increasing number of attacks by these whales have led the Spanish authorities to issue an alert for boats to stay close to the coast during the summer months. Various theories circulate to explain the mystery, such as repaying harm done by vessels in the past or simply playing but some experts have a different hypothesis.

Scientists from the Spanish Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute stated in an article in the Ocean and Coastal Management scientific journal that the recovery of the Atlantic bluefin stock has put the fish back on the orcas’ diet. But the tuna are tough prey as they swim faster than the killer whales and can grow to 1.80 meters long. The researchers are convinced that the attacks are driven by mature orcas training their juveniles in tuna hunting methods. They teach them how to isolate a big tuna from a school by ramming, punching, and biting in groups by practicing it on boats.