VIDEO: Vessel fitted with rudder blades in horrific bid to deter orca
Sea Shepherd France (SSF) has released video footage of what it says is a yacht fitted with an orca deterrent – in the form of sharpened blades attached to its rudder.
The organisation, alongside WeWhale, has been patrolling the Iberian coastline. It says its remit is to prevent any reprisals against the orca after the creatures have ‘interacted’ with vessels, and sunk a few, over the past few years. A lot of that interaction has been with rudders.
“We filmed this French boat in Barbate marina,” says SSF who released the footage below on 28 July. “It is now back on the water. We reported the boat to the local police, who told us that although orcas are strictly protected by law, there is a grey area regarding this type of equipment, which can cause them injury. Our legal team is working on a complaint for ‘attempted destruction of a protected species’.”
Des lames coupantes pour blesser les orques qui s'approcheraient. Voilà comment certains marins équipent leur safran pour naviguer dans le détroit de Gibraltar.
— Sea Shepherd France (@SeaShepherdFran) July 28, 2024
Tout en luttant activement pour la libération de Paul Watson, nos missions de terrain se poursuivent. L'opération que… pic.twitter.com/lPTnM1GlJT
The organisation is keen to point out that no one has been injured in the orca interactions. And that the Iberian killer whale subspecies is critically endangered.
“Some media outlets and yachtsmen are promoting a discourse of terror,” says SSF, “based on a grotesque theory of vengeful orca. Such rhetoric feeds an irrational psychosis and in some cases have led to violent reprisals against these protected animals.
“As we recently showed in several videos of our boat surrounded by 15 orcas [below], these majestic beings show no signs of aggression. Large, curious and playful cetaceans… whose damage, if any, is due more to their size and strength than to their desire to harm anyone. As a reminder, no human being has ever been injured by an orca in the wild, ever.”
Partagez massivement cette vidéo svp !!
— Sea Shepherd France (@SeaShepherdFran) July 20, 2024
Rencontre avec les orques, un rêve bien plus qu’un cauchemar.
NON ! Les orques n’en veulent pas humains ! Suite aux articles parus hier dans divers médias faisant état « d´attaque » d’orques sur des plaisanciers flamands au large de… pic.twitter.com/OyLMcpB2yu
Latest boat sunk after orca interaction: Bonhomme William
However, Salvamento Marítimo, Spanish maritime rescue, was called out last week to the sailboat Bonhomme William.
The skipper reported that, on the afternoon/night of 24 July, it needed towing after orca’ interactions. By the time the rescuers had arrived, the boat was sinking. Three people were rescued.
Robert Powell and his crew were just 22 hours into their 10-day trip from Vilamoura, Portugal, to Greece.
“To me, they were not playing at all, they knew exactly what they were doing. They knew the weak points of the boat, and they knew how to sink it. Their sole intention was to sink the boat, and that was it,” Powell told the to New York Post.
The five orcas circled the 39-foot sailing boat and, in a coordinated assault, took turns ramming it. They first targeted the rudder and then broke apart parts of the boat’s exterior. Powell says one concentrated on the keel, another on the stern, and others targeting vulnerable areas.
“They were circling. It was like watching wolves hunt. They were taking it in turns to come in — sometimes two would come in at the same time and hit it. So obviously pretty terrifying.”
Powell tried everything from dropping firecrackers in the water and turning off the engine to deter the attack, but the pod was determined.
“It was a very long attack, and it was really the violence of the attack that surprised me.
“I have a feeling that this group are boat sinkers — I think they knew what they were doing, I’m sure of it.”
Continue reading about orca and the mystery of their recent behaviour patterns, including that they’re bored, or check out MIN’s full list of articles about whales from around the world.
Main images courtesy of Sea Shepherd France, boat image courtesy of Salvamento Marítimo.
So if I were to swim up to someones rudder and disable it or ram their boat with say a submersible to the extent that it sinks causing a mayday with loss of property and huge expenditure of resources then I’m “interacting” with it?
The yachting fraternity would do well to talk to the fishing community who depend on the sea for their livelihoods. They avoid turning cestaceans into bycatch by using pingers which in many cases are compulsory. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/reduce-dolphin-and-porpoise-by-catch-comply-with-regulations
nature is nature and it doesnt help anyone to get sentimental about it or we would find a way of stopping Orcas ripping the tongues out of calf sperm whales while their mothers desperately try to defend them. If you feel the need to cuddle something get a labrador puppy. These animals are smart so the sooner we acknowledge the fact that they dont need to sink or attack yachts to survive and take appropriate temporary and preferably non violent actions to deter them then the sooner we can make this problem go away because without action its already escalated well out of our control.
Using such devices is a simple passive defence. It only has an effect if something actually touches it. It’s a bit like putting barbed wires on your fence. Legal and reasonable imho. Just don’t shoot them. The whalies will have your guts for garters.
osservazione giusta e razionale, provvedessero gli ambientalisti ad educarle. e non perdere tempo in denuncie capziose per far notare la loro esistenza.