Friday, March 29

for the first time they act on the towing line of a ship


Madrid

Updated:

Save

The killer whales they have returned After a quiet winter, these cetaceans are already interacting with the boats in the waters of Cadiz, sometimes leaving them rudderless and adrift. Salvamento Marítimo confirms 17 ‘encounters’ this year at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, although only six vessels have needed assistance. However, one of these cases has been particularly striking: after leaving the boat adrift, the killer whales they pushed the rope with which the boat was towed. Something that, in the last two years, the rescuers had not seen, they confirm to ABC.

More of 250 interactions between boats and killer whales in Spanish waters have been recorded since 2020. In the most serious cases, killer whales approach boats in groups, they hover around them for 20 or 30 minutes and hit the rudder, rendering it unusable.

This behavior is hardly unprecedented worldwide. It started as something anecdotal, but soon the Salvation troops verified that the scare had not passed. Now, the event with the tow line registered on April 24 in Barbate (Cádiz), adds a new ingredient to the mystery of a behavior about whose origin scientists are still not sure.

«[La actuación sobre el remolque] It is a punctual behavior«, relativizes the expert in Environmental Sciences Ezequiel Andreu, one of the members of the Atlantic Orca Task Force investigating the events. As he explains, some time ago they observed that in another trailer the killer whales approached the cape and, later, there was tension. But the images of that meeting were not as clear as the current ones.

Also Read  As the ocean industrial revolution gains pace the need for protection is urgent | Douglas J McCauley

The biologist and cetacean expert Alfredo Lopez He also believes that there is nothing new. “It is a behavior already observed on other occasions. They are attracted to things around them of the boat«, he says, so they end up interacting with what they find, as they have done before with the zodiacs that are towing the boats. »The cape is floating and is accessible«, says López about the images published by Salvamento Marítimo. »They are very tactile animals, anything helps them rub against each other«.

Scientists are not clear about the motives or origin behind the behavior of these killer whales with ships. It could be a self-taught game or your defense against a bad experience. But they do believe that there is a transmission of information between them, An apprenticeship. According to the data handled by the working group, in 2020 there were three copies involved and now there are 14.

For this reason, Andréu points out, it is important to continue studying the behavior of killer whales and to be attentive to its possible evolution. “A priori we only have a specific case [de empuje del cabo de remolque] and the possibility that a previous case also involved a similar situation. Therefore, we do not have enough cases to establish that it is a behavior that can develop» or transmit, just like ramming the rudders, he says.

Also Read  Ukraine, Russia hold face-to-face talks today

For now, it is not a representative behavior, it is not repeated and, in addition, there are not always loose ends. “In principle, it should not pose a danger to the boats, but it is something that we will have to continue observing, to see if something else needs to be recommended in the protocol,” explains Andréu.

In this type of situation with killer whales, explains Salvamento Marítimo, it is advisable stop the engine, lower the sails, leave the rudder to the track (in the same longitudinal position as the hull), disconnect the autopilot and turn off the probe, in addition to remaining silent and never leaning overboard.

threatened group

The Iberian orca population is highly threatened. It is estimated that there 59 copies, divided into six herds, which have specialized in catching bluefin tuna which, in fact, they chase along the coast in their migratory flow. The killer whales take advantage of the fact that the bluefin tuna spawns in the Mediterranean to hunt as they enter and exit the Strait area, where they have also learned to interact with the almadraba.

For this reason, their presence in the area has always been common, but until 2020 interactions with ships were not. Now, López denounces, after two years this is how developing a certain “discontent” among the people, fed on “on some websites” and by “some means”, which contributes to a rarefied atmosphere. For this reason, it asks for citizen collaboration in order to collect more information and videos about the incidents.

Also Read  Biden desconfa de la negociacin con Rusia y armar ms a Ucrania

See them
comments




www.abc.es

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *