New season – new hurdles

Text: Pia Ackermann, pictures: firmm®

Already before the regular season was opened, we encountered the first difficulty. In March we had been told that there was an important change in the supervision and control of the Strait of Gibraltar: Before, the whole maritime traffic in the Strait of Gibraltar was supervised by Tarifa Tráfico. Now part of the responsibility has been delegated to the Tangier Traffic Maritim.
They follow laws to the letter and see to that all ships along the Moroccan coast are forced to head into the same direction (from west to east). For us this means we are not allowed to navigate against the freight traffic anymore with our boats. This is an immense restriction since the Pilot Whales swim however they want along the African coast.

Since we have to let them pass by and therefore cannot follow them, the chances for wonderful encounters with the whales and dolphins are diminished. Quick reactions should a Sperm or Fin Whale sighting occur for example effectively become impossible without getting into trouble.

During the first two trips our fears were already realized. Under great difficulty we had the chance to observe a few animals, but even far less then usual. The guests did indeed enjoy the trip, but due to these restrictions firmm® cannot fulfil its intentions - research and sensitisation - by encountering the whales and dolphins in freedom in its usual quality anymore.

To avoid the restrictions, Diego tried to remain with the animals in the westbound current at low speed. Due to this slow and current compensating style of driving, the Radar Automatic Identification System (AIS) at Tangier Traffic it displayed speed standstill. Additionally, we did not want to annoy anybody at the beginning of the season, to expect Diego to put up with a caution or firmm® with a negative position at Tangier Trafic Maritim. But apart from that we could not leave our trips to chance, especially after the long way we have come, with 99% sighting chances after years of effort.

Katharina decided to pay a diplomatic visit to the station of Tangier Trafic Maritim. With assistance by the foundation council of firmm Maroc, Rachid Chrigui, the appointment was made and a meeting was arranged. On April 1st the time had come: Shipmaster Diego and Katharina crossed the stormy Strait of Gibraltar on this Levante-day. To their surprise they found that the station was located not far from the bay of Ras Laflouka, where the Dolphin Sanctuary is planned. At the tower they enjoyed a unique panorama view of Tarifa above Gibraltar as far as to the mountain Mousa. The people responsible received Katharina friendly and as she mentioned that the goals of the Dolphin Sanctuary are mainly planned for children, the ice broke...

By means of his meticulously prepared documents, Diego explained the features of the boats. We benefit from the kind of two radio channels for Tarifa and Tangier in our boats, and from their length. This particular law applying to the direction of boat traffic only applies to boats up to a length of 20 metres , and the firmm Spirit and the firmm Fly Blue both have a length of 16 metres!

The people in charge watched the presentation about animals with great interest. That there are so many animals cavorting in the Strait of Gibraltar was not even known by these people who are managing the local maritime traffic. The map containing our positions and sightings of the animals, which was given to us by our biologist Jörn, underlined our request. Finally we got the go-signal for our trips. We gladly meet their demand for monthly statistics about our trips in return.

Thus we overcame the first hurdle! It was a great relief for us. But one task has been left to Diego: Since the Moroccans regulate their radio contact in English, Diego is now concentrating on: “how to improve my English”…