The drama in the Strait of Gibraltar between Orcas and yachts shows no signs of slowing down.
The problem first made the news in mid-2020 when a pod of Orcas has developed a routine for attacking, damaging, and sometimes sinking sailing yachts as they pass through the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco.
Scientists have been at wits end to understand the root cause of the behavior. Initial theories pitched anti-fouling paint on the hull as the culprit, but subsequent changes in the Orcas behavior and the nature of the attacks have scientists theorizing that the whales may be teaching the skill to others in their pod.
As the attacks have evolved, the whales have even begun disrupting racing yachts while engaging in long, drawn out, systematic attacks that can last over an hour. In those instances, the whales appear to focus on the rudder of the boat with repeated strikes.
On Monday, yet another attack sank a sailing yacht off the coast of Morocco near Cape Spartel.
According to NBC News, the 15 metre (49 foot) vessel Alboran Cognac was carrying two people when it encountered the whales around 9 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) on Sunday morning.
The passengers reported sudden blows to the hull and rudder before the vessel began to take on water. The crew alerted rescue services and the nearby oil tanker MT Lascaux took them onboard and transported them to Gibraltar.
The yacht was left adrift and eventually sank. As with previous attacks, it appears to be the work of a single pod and a potential matriarch with the nickname 'White Gladis.' The latest sinking brings the number of 'interactions' between Orcas and boats in the Strait to over 700 since May 2020.
Marine biologist Alfredo Lopez Fernandez told Live Science previously that Gladis may have suffered a "critical moment of agony," like a collision with a boat or an entanglement with a fishing line, that turned her aggressive.
"The Orcas are doing this on purpose, of course, we don't know the origin or the motivation, but defensive behavior based on trauma, as the origin of all this, gains more strength for us every day," López Fernandez said.
Other theories include it being a playful curiosity, a social fad that the pod developed for their own amusement, or even the intentional targeting of what they perceive as competitors for their favorite prey -- local bluefin tuna.
"We do not interpret that the Orcas are teaching the young, although the behavior has spread to the young vertically, simply by imitation, and later horizontally among them, because they consider it something important in their lives," López Fernandez added.
Meanwhile, a group known as OceanCare who represent a group of experts and marine biologists, have published an open letter trying to prevent misrepresentation of the Orcas behavior. They believe the recent attacks are not deliberate in nature.
The letter states that experts are concerned that factual errors related to interactions with Orcas are being repeated in the media, and that this is alongside a narrative -- “lacking a basis in science or reality – that the animals are aggressively attacking vessels or seeking revenge against mariners."
The authors of the letter believe that “this narrative inappropriately projects human motivations onto these whales” and are “concerned that perpetuating it will lead to punitive responses by mariners or managers."
The latest sinking of the Alboran Cognac is at least the seventh vessel to go down since May 2020.
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