Noonsite advice on Orcas

[GHA]

... here >
Atlantic Spain and Portugal: ORCA Interaction Advice to Yachts | Noonsite

Henry Buchanan, author of Atlantic Spain and Portugal from the Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation, has shared this “Action Plan” with Noonsite, that was devised for yacht skippers by the Portuguese and Spanish authorities in March 2021.

If Orca are sighted and begin to interact with your boat:

1. STOP the boat (take down the sails), leave the wheel loose if sea conditions and pilotage allow it.
2. Contact the authorities (by phone on 112 or by radio on VHF channel 16).
3. Take hands off the steering wheel and secure the boat for possible collision effects.
4. Do not shout at the animals, do not touch them with anything or throw things at them, do not let yourself be seen unnecessarily. But if you have a camera phone, or other device, record the animals especially their dorsal fins, to help identify them. All information of this sort should be sent by email to: gt.orcas.ibericas@gmail.com
5. After a while check operation of the rudder, and if necessary request assistance from the authorities through VHF channel 16 or phone on 112.
6. Make notes of the interaction, record the date/time and your position.

stay safe,

 

[Seven Spades]

Has anyone been attacked after dark?

 

[KLBH]

Yes, around midnight about 8 miles off the coast.

 

[RupertW]

Wouldn’t it be simpler to just say,
1. Take a rifle
2. Use it

 

[sailaboutvic]

I heard they like cans sardines

 

[sailaboutvic]

Shouldn't joke we might be going that way this year

 

[newtothis]

Wouldn’t it be simpler to just say,
1. Take a rifle
2. Use it

I think it is generally considered that a harpoon is more sporting and seamanlike.

 

[RupertW]

Shouldn't joke we might be going that way this year

I’m not joking - I hope somebody does shoot them as they have now damaged and endangered dozens of boats with nothing to stop their behaviour.

 

[Sandy]

I’m not joking - I hope somebody does shoot them as they have now damaged and endangered dozens of boats with nothing to stop their behaviour.

They have more right to be in the sea that we have to be on it.

 

[[3889]]

In Camarinas and heading for Coruña tomorrow. Luckily I have Bluetooth speakers and Kings of the South Seas on my phone.

 

[scruff]

Would motoring out of dodge not work - presumably a whirring prop would be a pretty big deterrent?

 

[penfold]

Making yourself a sitting target seems like a terrible idea, if as the link suggests the whales are regarding boats as very large and ponderous tuna, stopping the boat mimics an exhausted tuna ripe for scoffing quite well I would think. It all seems like a lot of unintuitive guesswork.

The Orca chase the Tuna until the fish gets totally exhausted, even paralysed, and the parts that the whales prefer is the belly of the Tuna which is the meatiest. It is still not known why the Orca whales go for the rudder, but it could be totally unrelated to the fact that they prey on Tuna.

 

[sarabande]

Penfold, what's the source for your quote from "whale boffin" please ?

 

[penfold]

It's from GHA's link.

 

[Captain Jan]

Though not a solution, when a pod of Pilot Whales/ False Killers stayed with us & were playing around the boat 30 miles south of La Castella, Italy, we found that when we stopped the engine, they lost interest & left. When we re started it , they returned. Our movement through the water was the same, but they seemed to like the vibration/noise in the water. Whether these guys off Portugal are aggressive, or playing rough, we are limited in what can be done to keep the boat in one piece, but stopping the engine is first. Also we can pre plan by carrying Shark Repellent that used to be part of the liferaft kit, to put in the water. Stop &, drift in the puddle of shark repellent. If sharks don't like it, perhaps the Orca's won't either . However, If the local fishing boats have been throwing non quota fish over the side in that area, that could have caused this behaviour pattern, and they may expect something. Hence the 3rd option, carrying fish to feed them. Sailaboutvic's suggestion of Sardines may or may not be serious. If there is a choice between feeding fish to the Orca's, with its moral issues of rewarding bad behaviour & affecting behaviour patterns, or having the rudder torn off, a big hole in the stern where the rudder used to be & grabbing the grab bag as we go into the cold water, feeding fish would probably be preferable. It would be good to hear other experiences on this, our 2022 passage is expected to transit this area. This thread is about the Noonsight recommendation, but it's an important issue, I do hope there is more experience out there to help manage this. The Rifle idea can't work for us.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Like all of us here, I have no idea what the answer is , but for sure personlly I dont think sitting still in the water is the answer,
And considering this advice came from some one who write a pilot guide, I be taken little notice of it ,

We may pass that way this year and if we do and be unlucky to get attacked we deal with it depending how bad the attack is.
One thing I tho of was handing my spare anchor over the stern behind the rudder and if that dont work dropping it on top of the attacking fish just before it or while he goes for the rudder .
That may shock the fish to let go .
If you want to try any thing before hand , you could epoxy strip on barb wire both side of the rudder ,

 

[RupertW]

They have more right to be in the sea that we have to be on it.

That statement makes no sense. Is this a law I haven’t heard of or is our ability as animals to be at sea different to their ability to roam it? Please quote the source that allocates and judges on these relative rights.

 

[sarabande]

I suspect that as we humans are the real apex predators of the planet, we have a responsibility to manage the planet in every living entities' best interests. That's a slightly Buddhist approach but it encompasses my rather simple ethical beliefs.

If Sandy said we have equal rights would that be better ? Or do you feel either that as we can live on land AND sea and the KWs can only live in water, then they are less (?) than us, or because they can sink boats and kill people that we have a right to get our defence in first ?

I have no answer, except that I would prefer not to be eaten alive, and that KWs should continue to live as predators on lesser animals and fish such as whale calves and tuna, and seals, and sharks, and porpoises, and ...

The problem with evolution is that it is not a stationary policy that can be preserved at any particular point in time. Some species are not capable of living as climate gradually changes (even outwith the human scale of species domination). We no longer have neanderthals, dinosaurs, and dozens of other extinct species. But we are here because they were there back in history. Perhaps KWs flourished a million years ago and they are no longer viable as a species on today's planet? If that is our fault then we are wrong, but if it is part of the natural process, is it our job to try and stop nature changing ?

Dunno, sorry.

 

[sailaboutvic]

There another way of looking at this , if a pack of dogs attacked a person or killed someone which could happen . what would be the respond of the authority?

 

[PlanB]

And what about that great white which is heading our way?