– The information will be shared with the competent administrations, which will disseminate it for the information of the navigators.
During the summer and autumn of 2020, episodes of interaction between several killer whales(Orcinus orca) and vessels, mainly sailboats, began to occur both in the Strait of Gibraltar and in the waters off the Galician coast. These events have continued to occur in subsequent years.
The Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) is promoting the satellite tagging of six orca whales, in collaboration with CIRCE – Conservation, Information and Study of Cetaceans.
As part of this project, satellite tagging of a killer whale, which had previously been identified as one of the specimens that interact with the boats, has already been carried out.
The information provided by this satellite tag will allow, during the period in which the device is in operation, to identify its location in the last hours and to elaborate a weekly map of the approximate area in which this killer whale has been moving during this period. This information will be shared with the competent administrations, which will disseminate it for the knowledge of navigators, in order to try to minimize the risk of interaction, avoiding or minimizing navigation in these areas.
LIFE INTEMARES PROJECT
In addition, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), through the LIFE INTEMARES project, which is coordinated by MITECO’s Biodiversity Foundation, and in collaboration with the CIRCE organization, initiated a pilot project last summer to try to minimize the interactions of killer whales with sailboats in the Strait of Gibraltar.
These works give continuity to the scientific study developed at the end of 2021 by the Coordinadora para el Estudio de los Mamíferos Marinos (CEMMA) and the Grupo de Trabajo de la Orca Atlántica (GTOA) about the episodes of interaction of the killer whale population with sailboats in the waters of Galicia and the Strait of Gibraltar. Among its conclusions, it was urged to test techniques to minimize interactions, and to deepen knowledge about the habits of the species.
Following these recommendations, this demonstrative pilot project aims to test different devices and navigation techniques to provide clear guidelines, especially for sailboats, to ensure their safe navigation. At the same time, the development of actions oriented to the disinhabituation of killer whales to boats will be sought.
ORCINUS ORCA
The killer whale (Orcinus orca) is a marine mammal of social habits, intelligent, which is regularly present in the waters under Spanish jurisdiction, from the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Atlantic coasts of the Gulf of Cadiz and Galicia, to the Cantabrian Sea, where it finds essential habitats for feeding. Individuals are organized in stable social groups and are spatially and seasonally associated with the bluefin tuna(Thunnus thynnus) stock, which causes their migratory movements.
This population is listed as vulnerable in the Spanish Catalog of Threatened Species (CEEA), developed by Royal Decree 139/2011, of February 4. For species included in the CEEA, Article 57 of Law 42/2007, of December 13, 2007, on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity prohibits any action taken for the purpose of killing, capturing, persecuting or disturbing them.
