they are not working, and I’ve never had one of those calls!”
The size of a couple of cartons of cigarettes taped together, they are deployed on a line to a depth of 5-10m and towed around with the vessel, pinging away!
There are a number of websites dedicated to news about orca and orca ‘attacks’ but not one of the sites has any mention of pingers! Why not? Pure sensationalism doesn’t thrive on solutions, I guess.
Perhaps we should be speaking about deploying pingers geographically to protect certain areas like the area west of the Straits, or around Á Coruña in the north where there has also been a spate of encounters.
We all remember the story of the Robertsons whose yacht was deliberately sunk by orca west of
the Galapagos about 35 years ago, deliberately sunk by headbanging the boat to pieces. The Robertson family survived for 117 days in a life raft. The book is called Survive the Savage Sea. And well worth a read.
I have carefully questioned everyone I have been in contact on this specific point. Did they at any point head- butt the vessel and the answer has always been no. So far. Not even a nudge to the keel. And inspection in the shipyard afterwards being my job, I can confirm no soft brush marks, no push marks, no head marks seen. No sign of any contact other than with the rudder.
Tactics - a yacht was filmed recently shooting at the orca with a high- powered rifle. I would not want to anger a bunch of two-ton animals that are capable of sinking my boat. It’s a bit like annoying a herd of elephant while driving a Citroen 2CV across the Serengeti. Not clever.
Other yachts are carrying military ‘flash-bangs’, or stun grenades, which they throw in the water to deter the orca, and it is believed to work. It is of course hard to gather direct evidence as no-one will admit to it. Today I was told about underwater speakers emitting loud noises to push the orca away.
To harm or hurt, or to cause these endangered mammals to be harmed or hurt is a criminal offence in Spain, as it should be. Big fines and jail time applies. But what do we do? Many yacht owners have had their plans for the summer scrubbed or delayed, and they are understandably annoyed. So, should they pressure the underwriters to enforce carrying and deploying pingers in certain areas, or not?
But from being annoyed to taking an assault rifle with you is a big step. Owning an illegal firearm in Spain is automatically five years in jail with no parole. No argument.
THE REPORT | DEC 2023 | ISSUE 106 | 111
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