Orca attacks off Norway, moving 3,000 miles. Learnt behaviour?

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by ccanupii

Before everyone goes all in a killing spree, I would suggest the following viewing:

1977 - Orca - with Richard Harris.

If they ever find out we taste like chicken, we are in trouble....or what chicken taste like.

Ahh. That's the one where the Orca starts chewing his way from the stern to the bridge of the boat..
Makes Jaws look like a pussy cat..

[RedneckRedcoat]

This should have been dealt with a long time ago. Every year it has got worse and now another pod are doing the same. All I have ever heard is it’s a phase or they are playing or what ever the current excuse is but at some point it going to be to late. This will end badly because of inactivity and will end with a fatality. Then all that will happen is the whole pod will be slaughtered to solve the issue and stop the issue from spreading to other pods.

[DaveKurtz]

[QUOTE=Chotu;3796223]Not intelligent?

Explain this:

Of course Orcas are intelligent. They have proved that time and again. I think everyone is saying just don’t get carried away. It is an order of magnitude between “Orca intelligence” and “human intelligence”. With that said, I would not want to get into a physical confrontation with an Orca in the open ocean. That’s their environment. And they have experience. I would not show up there without a harpoon or bigger weapon. The point being… I will win.

[boatman61]

[QUOTE=DaveKurtz;3796969]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Not intelligent?

Explain this:

Of course Orcas are intelligent. They have proved that time and again. I think everyone is saying just don’t get carried away. It is an order of magnitude between “Orca intelligence” and “human intelligence”. With that said, I would not want to get into a physical confrontation with an Orca in the open ocean. That’s their environment. And they have experience. I would not show up there without a harpoon or bigger weapon. The point being… I will win.

Have you ever seen a pod of Orca take on a sperm whale while 4 or 5 of the older youngsters herd away the calf..
They are highly organised and communicative, if you go with a harpoon make sure it's a repeater otherwise by the time you've reloaded they'd be all over you..

[s/v Jedi]

I am not surprised they only attack NATO countries

[volksbar]

to protect yourself, switch off your depth-sounder when in open waters

Orcas are highly acoustic animals (which is proven when their vocalizations are recorded 24/7. They vocalize and hunt as much during day as during pitch black nights - means they dont need eye-sight for orientation).

Sailboats are not utterly silent, but fairly silent. What gives them away, at frequencies we dont hear, is a switched on depth sounder. That sounds, if slowed down to our hearing range, like a pounding hammer. Just at higher freq than 100 kHz, which are well audible by orcas and other marine mammals.

That depth sounder's sonar sound travels not only downwards. But also sidewards. And makes a yacht audible on far longer distances.

For people concerned to be picked up by attack-willing-orcas, why not make yourself less audible? Like a submariner or frigate (anti-submarine warfare). Those also make rare and careful use their active sonar (depth sounder) in order to not be acoustically spotted by potential "enemies".

[RedneckRedcoat]

Originally Posted by volksbar

to protect yourself, switch off your depth-sounder when in open waters

Orcas are highly acoustic animals (which is proven when their vocalizations are recorded 24/7. They vocalize and hunt as much during day as during pitch black nights - means they dont need eye-sight for orientation).

Sailboats are not utterly silent, but fairly silent. What gives them away, at frequencies we dont hear, is a switched on depth sounder. That sounds, if slowed down to our hearing range, like a pounding hammer. Just at higher freq than 100 kHz, which are well audible by orcas and other marine mammals.

That depth sounder's sonar sound travels not only downwards. But also sidewards. And makes a yacht audible on far longer distances.

For people concerned to be picked up by attack-willing-orcas, why not make yourself less audible? Like a submariner or frigate (anti-submarine warfare). Those also make rare and careful use their active sonar (depth sounder) in order to not be acoustically spotted by potential "enemies".

When would you suggest you turn off your depth sounder or sonar. It’s easier said than done , all the boats attacked have said they turned of their electrics off but the attack continued , so obviously that’s to late. I don’t think electronics has anything to do with it I think it has to do with they recognize the shape of a sailboat and they could spot that miles away under silent running. A lot of sonars are directly connected to chartplotters so can’t be turned off

[RedneckRedcoat]

Interestingly enough there is even a website tracking the attacks now.

https://www.orcas.pt/maps

[cuthbert]

This is really the sort of thing Rupert Sheldrake investigates. Morphic Resonance or Telepathy, interesting stuff.

Maybe there is some way to paint or taint the rudder to emulate some small sea creature that is undesirable/unpleasant and thereby deter the orca.

Or maybe a return to thinking/design used in some the older boats that would have a cockpit/interior table which could be rigged as an emergency rudder.

[Baba Buoy]

Pour diesel on water, orcas may not the fumes. 40% of diesel evaporates in one hour in cold water. I would like to know if this works. Easy solution in that diesel is available in most cruiser boats.

[RedneckRedcoat]

Originally Posted by cuthbert

This is really the sort of thing Rupert Sheldrake investigates. Morphic Resonance or Telepathy, interesting stuff.

Maybe there is some way to paint or taint the rudder to emulate some small sea creature that is undesirable/unpleasant and thereby deter the orca.

Or maybe a return to thinking/design used in some the older boats that would have a cockpit/interior table which could be rigged as an emergency rudder.

I wonder if something like shark shield would work

https://ocean-guardian.com/

[volksbar]

if you turn the sonar off, after they found you, its obviously too late.
if you turn it off once entering deep waters, where it is no longer needed - chances that they find you diminish tremendously - as sonars can be attributed as kind of a "dinner bell"

Originally Posted by RedneckRedcoat

When would you suggest you turn off your depth sounder or sonar. It’s easier said than done , all the boats attacked have said they turned of their electrics off but the attack continued , so obviously that’s to late. I don’t think electronics has anything to do with it I think it has to do with they recognize the shape of a sailboat and they could spot that miles away under silent running. A lot of sonars are directly connected to chartplotters so can’t be turned off

[keithhe]

I don’t think anyone has any idea why these orcas are doing what they are doing. They have a history of some very odd behavior like in the Pacific NW in the 1980’s a pod started swimming around with dead salmon on their heads. This was quite the fad and caught on all summer. Then it stopped as quickly as it started. Maybe dead salmon hats went out of vogue.
I’ve read a LOT of speculation on here from accidental injury on Gladis to depth sounder causing this. I think all of that speculation is a waste of time, since they aren’t talking.
What is more beneficial is possible deterrents that don’t involve harming them. As bad as the rudder damage has been and yes several boats were sunk because of this, I don’t feel like they are actually trying to harm the people. They are more than powerful enough to destroy a fiberglass boat, but they haven’t. They seem to be going after the slow boats (sail) perhaps because it’s just easier.
Not brought up on this thread is that there are several groups collecting data on these attacks down to color of bottom paint. Perhaps that may eventually help pinpoint a cause, but I doubt it. At least it helps with locations of the pods.
What I have read with interest is what some have done during these “attacks” that made them stop. All have to do with noise. One guy used his air horn held against the inside of his hull creating effectively a huge speaker and they quickly left. Another banging on a piece of pipe with one end in the water with a hammer and that too worked. These are very auditory beings and I think the deterrent is noise they don’t like in reaction to approach or “attack”.

[VeinDocFL]

I agree about the noise. I would think carrying a few seal bombs while sailing these areas could be worthwhile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrBPt7Qhv18

[chubby]

Originally Posted by RedneckRedcoat

This should have been dealt with a long time ago. Every year it has got worse and now another pod are doing the same. All I have ever heard is it’s a phase or they are playing or what ever the current excuse is but at some point it going to be to late. This will end badly because of inactivity and will end with a fatality. Then all that will happen is the whole pod will be slaughtered to solve the issue and stop the issue from spreading to other pods.

we've seen this movie before...
..it is not a happy ending.




we will be lucky if (only) that single podwill be slaughtered..
..more than likely off pods in area will need to be culled.









...the fault will lie with do nothing bureaucratic cucks in government..


this could have been solved by a 2 navy gunwale RIBs over a weekend...


...yet it seems they are just waiting for there to be death aboard a pleasure craft or for the complains from fishermen to get loud enough before they start dropping depth chargers on (all) the pods of orcas in the area..