The season 2013 – a retrospective view
by Jörn Selling
Photos: Katharina Heyer, Jörn Selling, Sebastian Kanzler, "Der Spiegel", Eduardo Montano Peralta, Pedro Figueroa Moreno
In the season of 2013, Tarifa has shown it´s rough and windy side; one time the notorious Levante blew for 20 days and forced us into the Bay of Gibraltar. There the most interesting tours normally take place in autumn, when big shoals of flying fish congregate in the Strait of Gibraltar. To hunt them, hundreds of dolphins collaborate, seabirds and sometimes even tuna benefit from that.
In the Bay of Gibraltar we twice saw the female bottlenose dolphin that was adopted as a calf by the resident common dolphins. Although she has reached the size of an adult and therefore probably also sexual maturity, she stays in the group of common dolphins, although she never approaches the whale-watching boats.
Common dolphins
We enjoyed watching the many and partly very big groups of common dolphins inside and in front of the bay of Gibraltar. Especially spectacular are their hunting communities in autumn.
Striped Dolphins
They have saved many tours this summer, when the bottlenose dolphins and Pilot Whales disappeared. Although this happens every year from time to time, this season both species made themselves scarce. Luckily there were hundreds of striped dolphins cavorting in the Strait of Gibraltar in several, sometimes large pods. Observing such pods there is plenty to see, because the animals have more playmates and cheer each other up.
Bottlenose Dolphins
Bottlenose dolphins are the most acrobatic of all dolphin species. Especially in spring they are in a good mood. Much nicer than the forced shows in dolphinariums are the ones they perform often voluntarily near the boat. While doing so they love to examine the guests on board,
especially while surfing our bow wave.
Unfortunately there are also less beautiful things to tell. We have seen several animals with tumour-like ulcers in their mouths
Especially spectacular for the audience are the high jumps.
Also with less conspicuous show-performances they show us their agility
A cherished acquaintance since 2004 is Loly, who has what appears to be a fungal infection on her dorsal fin. Compared to her condition in 2004, the dorsal fin looks almost unchanged.
Pilot Whales
Curro was still seen several times in spring (Curro – Problem child of the Strait of Gibraltar), since then he has disappeared. Hopefully he only moved to another place, although we cannot rule out that he lost the fight against his bad injury. We learned from the researchers who have put transmitters in the dorsal fins (Invasive research Part 2) last year that only half of the Pilot Whales compared to 1999 exist today in the Strait of Gibraltar. Meanwhile it seems that they use transmitters with suction cups, with the help of which hopefully injuries like the one from Gonzo last year (who we have not seen either this year) can be prevented in the future. Why the Pilot Whales get rare is not entirely clear, but it could be possible that the Morbilliviris epidemic from 2007 is not yet over. The ship traffic, which has increased due to 4 new harbours on the north coast of Morocco, is certainly not helpful in reducing the stress of the Pilot Whales. Because of the noise pollution not only the whales suffer, but also their prey, the squid.
Sport fishermen hunting for tuna, who pull fishing rods behind their boats and drive sometimes through the dolphins, are another cause for injuries every year.
The course of healing a wound harming “Soltero”
Therefore we are particularly happy to see new calves that are more curious than the adults and sometimes come with their mothers to our boat.
So there are always trips with playful, happy and from time to time curious Pilot Whales.
Orcas
The Orca season lasted two weeks longer than last year. We were able to observe them more or less continuously from July 13th - October 24th, interrupted by the obligatory phases of Levante, during which the fishermen also had to stay in the harbour. Without the fishermen we would see the Orcas much less. Most of the time the fishermen get their catch:
Sometimes the Orcas are quicker and take the fish from the hook
When the Orcas are already full, they sometimes only take a quick bite
Afterwards the Orcas can be seen swimming around with fish in their mouths. Some of them share, but some keep their catch to themselves.
Playing with one’s prey, as cats do too, is not very nice from a civilized way of looking at things, but it helps the young ones to practice hunting. Occasionally pitiable animals are used for practicing; not being prey, but being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When everybody has had enough it’s time to celebrate
The matriarch of the pod, which we know best, was again in on it
Bartolo, a male from the pod that stays most of the time near Barbate, also re-appeared. During tuna fishing with lines and hooks in front of Tarifa all pods sooner or later turn up.
There are more new adolescent males; this one especially stands out, because of his carefree manner in front of our boat and his characteristic dorsal fin
Last year on November 1st and after a whole day searching for whales on board the Kairós, an occupation that I carry out twice a year on board the sailing ships of Sailing Classics, we reached the harbour of Ceuta, where we wanted to dock for the night. Although we didn’t expect any new sightings whatsoever, we saw circling seabirds approximately one mile away; then bigger dorsal fins and suddenly the typical outline of a dorsal fin of an up- and down diving male Orca. It was a big surprise to spot them that late in the season and in the twilight of an upcoming thunderstorm in the evening. The following photos were made by one guest on board:
The same spectacle was repeated this year, but with show performances next to the new ship Chronos in front of Mount Moses (Yebel Musa). A professional photographer on board shot unbelievable photos in high resolution, but despite his promise he never sent them to me. A pity, as they might have been useful in clarifying if Camacho really died, or only disappeared temporarily.
Therefore, after long years of data collection, we are able to confirm that the Orcas are staying in the Strait of Gibraltar from April until November. It is very likely that the later migrating smaller tuna fish attract the Orcas in October and November.
Sperm Whales
Until July we observed some Sperm Whales in the Strait of Gibraltar. During the summer months July, August and September we didn’t see them in the area. Only in October did they show up again. Sometimes they could be seen accompanied by Bottlenose Dolphins and Pilot Whales.
In April we observed Sperm Whales mating, and we weren’t the only spectators
In May and June are often ships nearby. The Sperm Whales are affected in particular, and often have to dive down to avoid them.
Among the four Sperm Whales seen on October 18th we have seen a pregnant cow:
Fin Whales
This season we were able to observe more or less the same number of Fin Whales as in the previous year. During their main migration period we had strong Levante wind blowing for 20 days in a row, which made the tours in the Strait of Gibraltar impossible; otherwise there probably would have been even more sightings.
It is best when the landscape in the background as well is awesome, as it was the case with this Fin Whale, who was in a hurry which one can tell from the way he swims: when swimming slowly they never show their snout; the more they are in a hurry, the more their body comes out of the water. The whale was full of parasites, which apparently occurs very often. Enlarging the photos of Fin Whales, you can often spot 10-30 cm long eel-like parasites.
We say goodbye until next season, and hope that the whales continue to migrate successfully through the oceans of the world.