The Orcas go for a spin again

Text: Katharina, photos: firmm

Yet another unexpected Orca sighting! On June 20th in the afternoon, we heard that the Orcas were with the fishermen again! Every member of the boat crew looked automatically at me. There was no need to think about it, it was immediately clear what we would do. Of course, there was only one possible signal from me: to head in the direction of the fishermen!

After about 35 minutes we saw a huge amount of fishing boats of all kinds. A lot of them were the regular Moroccan pateras. All of them already had 2-3 tuna either hooked on the side of the boat or already inside the boat.

It wasn't long before we spotted the Orcas divided into different groups. They took no notice of us because they were busy trying to get tuna off the fishermen's lines.

We had expected the Orcas we knew: the family of Camorro with the Matriarch. But the big male was a different one and also the smaller male was not the one we knew. There were 11 Orcas we did not know.

A huge jump out of the water was the highlight of this trip!

Jörn our biologist was unfortunately not on the boat, but later figured out from the photos that they were members of two pods. In contact with other biologists who compiled the identification catalogue and record which of the Orcas interact with sailboats, three animals of one group could be identified, including "Gladis White", which both approach sailboats and are on the lookout for tuna near the fishermen. A fourth Orca, the "Jumper", belonged to a second group, which is not known to interact with sailboats, nor with fishermen. Maybe he will still learn to do that?

We are all the more excited about the coming weeks, when we will regularly visit the fishermen with or without Orcas.