FILE - An Aerial view of Gibraltar rock seen from the neighbouring Spanish city of La Linea, Oct. 17, 2019. The ramming of a small boat by an orca in the Strait of Gibraltar prompted authorities in Spain to recommend Tuesday May 14, 2024 that small vessels stick to the coastline in that region to avoid often-scary interactions with killer whales. (AP Photo/Javier Fergo, File)
Recent episodes of orcas damaging boats near the Strait of Gibraltar have prompted Spanish authorities to recommend that small vessels stick to coastal areas where encounters are less likely. (AP Graphic)
FILE - An Aerial view of Gibraltar rock seen from the neighbouring Spanish city of La Linea, Oct. 17, 2019. The ramming of a small boat by an orca in the Strait of Gibraltar prompted authorities in Spain to recommend Tuesday May 14, 2024 that small vessels stick to the coastline in that region to avoid often-scary interactions with killer whales. (AP Photo/Javier Fergo, File)
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Recent episodes of orcas damaging boats near the Strait of Gibraltar have prompted Spanish authorities to recommend that small vessels stick to coastal areas where encounters are less likely. (AP Graphic)
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — After another ramming of a boat by an orca in the Strait of Gibraltar, Spanish authorities recommended small vessels stick to the coastline in that region to avoid often-scary interactions with killer whales during the summer.
In the latest incident, two people aboard a 15-meter (50-foot) boat in Moroccan waters requested help from Spain’s maritime rescue service Sunday after reporting that an orca knocked the craft several times, damaging its rudder and causing a leak. The people were picked up by a passing oil tanker summoned by the rescuers, and their boat later sank.
Spain’s ministries for transport and the environment, along with its merchant marines, issued notices Tuesday urging both sailing boats and small motorboats to beware of orcas between May and August in the area between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Gulf of Cadiz.
The Atlantic Orca Working Group, a team of Spanish and Portuguese marine life researchers who study killer whales near the Iberia Peninsula, says were 197 such known interactions in 2021 and another 207 in 2022.
A pod of orcas even last year, when a boat sailing from the Netherlands to Italy had a 15-minute encounter with the animals, prompting the crew to drop their craft's sails and raise a clatter to fend them off.
There have been no reports of attacks against swimmers. The interactions on boats seem to stop once the vessel becomes immobilized.
The researchers say that the killer whales seem to be targeting boats in a wide arc covering the western coast of the Iberia Peninsula, from the waters near the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain’s northwestern Galicia.
The orcas off the Iberian coast average from 5 to 6 1/2 meters (16-21 feet) in length, compared to orcas in Antarctica that reach 9 meters (29 1/2 feet).
