Why is the internet in love with the orca uprising? | The Stream

foreign [Music] welcome to the stream lean into your screen because I want to show you some video of orcas taking a chunk out of a catamaran Segundo we lost both Riders we lost both Rudders now that wasn't an isolated incident in the last year for instance there have been 200 known confrontations between boats and orcas but nobody knows quite why but we have a panel of

professional Skipper I know you are going to have questions audience watching on YouTube comment section is live have at it looking forward to you doing that first of all Charles and Paul and our tour uh I am going to do a little cheat sheet about orcas add one more fact when I finish that you know about orcas that most people do not know so let's start

with their name and what they're commonly known as killer whales but they're actually the largest family of the dolphin of The Dolphin Family the largest member of The Dolphin Family they can live a really long time up to 90 years old and their brain I'm intimidated now five times larger than a human being's brain Charles one more fact that will surprise our audience around the world

about August uh they're incredibly socially bonded with their family members and pool something else well they're the they're the most powerful predator on the on the planet and yet they've never ever attacked or injured a human being in the wild ah so interesting in the world that's really important there and our tour something that you've learned about orcas they are very intelligent smart animals they work

in groups they can hunt together even with another kind of fishes in some regions of the world they have different behaviors in different parts of the words that what I know about circus and they are very friendly with humans that's for sure so as these number of confrontations between boats and Yachts and orcas have gone up the general public or maybe even the sailing public have

called them attacks but earlier we spoke to Monica Gonzalez and she explained why we shouldn't call them attacks why we should call them something else this is what she taught us we have as a population about 35 individuals of ivarian orcas in this population only 15 interact with boats in this in these 15 to our adults and the rest are juveniles since 2020 this population of

ivarian orcas started to interact with boats we always use the word interaction because attack is just for humans is when you are doing something trying to hurt or to damage somebody is not the case of our soul population so we always use the word interaction Auto you've experienced an orca interaction it was late at night we had the video the video is super disturbing tell us

first what we're about to see because it looks like the beginning of a horror movie just because it's so dark and you're not sure what's going on what happened exactly it was scary at the first minute very very scary at the first touch I thought it was a wooden piece or a chip pallet because it was a bump not too strong okay and that was a

bit tired at that time because at four o'clock in the morning was my turn to Ghostly and I felt that on the boat and I came out I have my crew on the watch and I asked her what's happened and she said I didn't touch anything and I was scared about that really really really scared about that because I was realizing assuming that wasn't a narc

interaction you know and the boat is not mine I'm delivering oh my goodness possible yeah yeah it's not your right we showed the video but I'm gonna stop talking Arthur so that we can actually hear the sound because the sound is quite something let's Play that video again with the sound out foreign what do you think was happening there because there are so many theories as

to why orcas are being attracted to boats and more and more of them um yeah so I I mean I I can only imagine how terrifying that must be especially in the middle of the night when you don't have um any visual on what's really happening but um from my experience with killer whales and um from from what I understand uh is happening uh uh in

Spain and Portugal uh it it really truly seems to me that these whales are just interested in the bottom part of the boat things that protrude from the boat the rudder or Keel which sticks out uh down uh into the water column uh and the video that I saw that was taken of this uh Sailing Boat that was in a race really showed these whales rubbing

their head one well rubbing um his head against this protruding bit and you know these are incredibly intelligent tactile animals that interact regularly with things in their environment and that's what it looks like to me oh I was trying to find some video of you in the 1970s going on a ride with an orca it was kind of accidental but we don't have the video can

you explain what happened and describe that experience for us please well that was during the first Greenpeace campaign to protect Wales uh in the Pacific and I found myself in the streets of Bella Bella with an oncoming part of orcas and uh three of us for some strange reason decided to go into the water in front of them as they were coming towards us and uh

when only your head is out of the water and you see a pot of orcas coming from you especially back then it was very intimidating and then the old Doven disappeared and that's even more intimidating and suddenly they rose up alongside of us and I was able to grab the uh the dorsal of one of them and just went along with them for about a hundred

meters until I was flicked off in its tail but what struck me at the time was here is the most powerful predator on the planet you don't go up to a lion and pet it in the in the Serengeti but this this Predator allowed me to ride along with with it and that to me expresses uh that the I think they understand what we are they

understand how intelligent we are and how just dangerous we are and I think they want to live in coexistence with it that's what I believe and that's why I don't think they've ever attacked people in the in the world that's so interesting I'm going to bring in Liz sanderman here um there is a theory about why more orcas are confronting boats and it's known as the

white Gladys Theory and that's because an orca called White Gladys um had a number of confrontations with boats and they were feeling that maybe she was upset she was pregnant she was maybe looking after her calf that is one theory he is Liz talking about the idea of orcas maybe extracting Revenge Liz Liz is having none of that let's have a look these orcas have been

around these waters for many many years is it an adrenaline rush to the animals I certainly don't think it's Revenge these are very very powerful animals and if they wanted to do some serious damage they can all right they could kill us if they wanted to but they don't so Artur what are they doing around boats with my experience I learned they are not attacking they

don't want to damage the boat even because the rudder it's the most sensible part it's very weak part of the boat it's like a surfboard some Rudders are very weak it's foam and resin they are not attacking definitely not it's they are descending they are hunting area they are playing with boats because ARCA play with boats it's normal it's happened before I think it's something like

that Paul what what is your theory as to why orcas are now gathering around boats and it's happening in Spain in Portugal in a number of different places there's not just one one pod I'm going to share the the your theory with Paul because I I feel Paul's got a slightly different Theory go ahead Paul well I would like to think that they're sending us a

message I would like to think that they're expressing their anger but I really think it's coming down to a player learning it's a learning thing they've learned how to do this and they've passed that on to other orcas and uh I don't think there's anything uh there's any animosity there I mean premeditated Revenge that's a human characteristic there's no uh evidence that that exists with uh

with orcas so I think it's really a a matter of play so when you said premeditated Revenge Charles you started to smile but they have orchestra sprays are way bigger than our brains why would Revenge not be a thought that would go through their giant brain well I think we've we've touched on it a couple times in different coming from different perspectives uh but it's ultimately

the same concept that these are incredibly intelligent animals their brains are highly developed they have portions of their brains that are bigger than ours these are parts of their brains that have to do with memory and emotion and language and yet um you know through all of the things that these animals around the world in different populations have had to deal with like being corralled multiple

times netted up and having uh you know watching their family members being stolen from from the family loaded onto a a you know a truck and driven away never to be seen again in some cases with the southern resident fish eating killer whales that I study up here in Washington state these are animals that saw as many as 11 or more family members killed in the

process of being removed for the captive industry these are animals that were killed slid open um filled with with concrete and rocks to try and sink them these are animals that again are socially bonded for their entire lives they stayed with their mother both males and females and yet they've never turned on humans they've never come after humans in a negative way and so if any

population of killer whales was um you know going to attack humans uh I would think that it would be the southern residents right here in Washington state um again these these it has been said already Liz said it these whales are capable of of you know taking down several thousand pound Stellar sea lion if they wanted to harm people they they could and yet with these

cases in the Strait of Gibraltar when the boat becomes incapacitated as I understand it the whales lose interest and so again that lends to this whole idea that the whales are there for they're getting something positive out of their ex they're enjoying their experience um but but not to the point where they're they're trying to harm harm humans I'm going to bring in another example of

one of these Orca encounter encounters and this one comes from jalma Van Beek this was just in early to mid-june and jungle was taking part in a yachting race and then this is what happened let's have a look and two orcas came with us straight at us and they started hitting Naruto impressive to see the orcas first of all beautiful animal but also dangerous moment for

us in the team being reactively development took down the sails and slowed down the boat as quick as possible I looked it up for few attacks around the way it's a scary moment oh as the number of these incidences go up what does this mean for the Orca population and their safety I hope that uh we don't take revenge on them for doing this we have

to remember you can ensure a boat uh but you can't replace an orca and as their numbers are being diminished because the shortages of food because of pollution and uh because of many other factors we have to keep in mind that we could lose these uh these animals we could lose them completely we could always rebuild a boat but we cannot replace them if they disappear

oh tour go ahead what are you thinking exactly I agree 200 percent with Mr Paul and they are not attacking they don't want to damage that much the boat when they damage the boats usually they stop um no it's not a Revenge it's not an attack maybe they are defending their hunting place because the the track the the place where they're attacking it's where we have

a lot of Tunas here and a lot of industrial fishing of Tunas it's I think this can be the cause because they will not if it's a play they will not break the boat they will bring you the rudder back and will not break the other Rudder from the catamaran that's what I believe it's not uh neither a play exactly because if it was a play

they will not break the second brother in a catamaran I think they are defending they are hunting area you know and they don't want to damage the boat they touch the boat gentle the rudder it's very sensible if you hold the rudder they can bite that's my opinion that my experience I had three three interaction at the same day I have two interactions three what were

you doing that you got three yes yes yes I was delivering a boat okay so my first interaction was at 4 30 in the morning in front of scenes for 10 miles from scenes and then I stopped the boats at the same minutes I stopped the boats and they start observing the office and then when they stop after minute five minutes later they stopped and then

I put reverse heads into sports and they they come behind me and they hit me again 30 minutes later when I was running away and that was what damaged my brother the shaft because I was running away or a nay is a North Atlantic killer whale researcher and she has been watching the growing number of confrontations the growing interest from the public and she has some

concerns here she is I still don't really know why these happened but the involvement of juveniles suggests playful Behavior we know that killer whales are very intelligent and social creatures they can transfer their culture and their knowledge among the population we've seen that being done many many times in the past so as a researcher my concern lies with how the public views these animals we know

that this population is endangered and they need our help and the last thing they need is to be seen as villains what is fascinating is that orcasm have not become the villains in this story they've become the heroes people are meming them they become so much bigger than what is actually happening what do you make of that that way of actually understanding what is going on

it seems to me that people are starting to become aware of just how uh detrimental our own actions are to the to the Natural World um pretty much everything that's occurring that's uh threatening this population of killer whales that we're talking about um in in Europe as well as the population of killer whales that occur here in Washington state all of the threats facing these animals

that are that are causing them to to uh you know lose their population decline decline in population and really uh uh Teeter on the brink of Extinction all of the threats are essentially our fault we've created these these threats whether it be vessel presence and Associated noise um lack of prey removing prey from the Marine realm so uh limiting the amount of prey that these animals

have access to toxicants in the Marine realm so man-made chemicals that are making their way up the food chain and biomagnifying up the food chain and having impacts on these animals so those are just three of the threats that we're causing to the Marine realm and I think that that's what people are starting to really get a sense of um in different populations of animals around

the world and uh in a lot of ways we can't I can't help but root for them but I I do have a deep concern that people will um you know there there is an economic Factor here and for some folks uh that's uh more important than the natural world and I and I really hope that we're we're we start to have a conversation about what

we can do to minimize these interactions to the point where um you know maybe The Fad will will fade the animals will lose interest in this area and in in sailboats in Rudders and uh and kind of move on to something that's that's um for the people I think I really I really think that's that's the cause yeah let's let's take a look we shouldn't we

uh sorry we shouldn't forget that we have uh killed hundreds and hundreds of them enslaved them put them into captivity for our Amusement I mean it wasn't too long ago the United States Navy off of Iceland was machine gunning orcas because the fishermen were complaining about them and so we've come a long way in our understanding of what orcas are but we should never lose uh

the uh the sight of the fact that uh if we lose the orcas we lose them forever and uh as I said before you can always replace the rudder on a boat but you you can't replace the orcas Paul Anna May is watching right now and she has this suggestion you can tell us if it's if it's a realistic one she says could you put a

sonar controller on the orcas so they don't go where the boats are is is that a reasonable thing to do is that possible I think it's possible that you could put uh noises up from the the boat that might deter them it's pretty hard to deter an orca you could use Orca sounds to deter another whale for perhaps but uh but uh it might be I

think maybe playing really punk rock music might do it I don't know but uh you know or heavy metal or something like that something that might deter them all right uh Kareem salad said simple acoustic barrier deterrent that will stop them from attacking boats but it needs to be non-lethal um and yes nature is fighting back two thoughts there uh non-lethal deterrent Giles what would be

a non-lethal deterrent for the Orca so they stay away from boats well one of the things that is used in cases where for example there might be an oil spill and you're trying to deter marine mammals from an area um uh that it has been used around the world to use something called an oyokomi pipe which is a three inch diameter steel pipe uh eight foot

long hung from the side of a boat um and banged on with a something like a hammer um that those have been effective uh sadly you know those are actually what's used in the uh taiji dolphin drives um and those are noises that can push animals away from areas or into areas in the case of the taiji dolphin drives um so things like that um it's

possible to um uh you know possibly ramp up slowly ramp up so that they can move out of the way and not be harmed possibly something like um sonar uh that that in in some cases has has killed whales uh you know caused them to the surface very quickly and and get the bends in in the case of beaked whales something like that might might be

good I'm you know I I think that those you know we I did see one video of a boat where the people were clearly banging on the side of the boat I do believe it was the the catamaran that was uh part of the the race um where they shut their motor down and they started uh you know they stopped moving forward and started banging on

the side of the boat and I think that that ended up uh possibly helping the situation okay Charles let me just let me just post for it let me just post they're not gonna be lethal oh right okay so let me just pause for a moment because I want to bring in Vladimir um Vladimir um has experienced Orca confrontations and he wasn't sure what advice to

follow our tour have a listen to what he says and a new can baby just wrap us up with what you would do now now that you've had three experiences of orca confrontations here's Vladimir first of all on the internet uh very confusing to be honest even from official organizations um even today we had information from one official saying turn on the engine it will detract

orcas and others said turn off the engine uh not to attract their attention and then some officials say uh or not officials stay closer to shipping planes where it's busier and deeper and others say stay where it's shellware so advice is very confusing and not helpful at all we go shallow we go shallow and uh what he said about the cheap lines is I did Gibraltar

more than six times after this started happen okay with sailboats with family on boards and catamarans so I'm doing this job I did this this course route several times with in safety you know I can do this job I can cross through the red zone not through the red zone but I go shallow I hug the coast I show the coast to the people I say

look it's beautiful this is sailing you want to go and you want to see the places also but some Sailors some boats owners some boats on or sometimes they are now wants to go in the middle no come on in July we are having a problem we have a solution a temporary solution all right Paul I've got one second 10 seconds left what are you going

to say in that 10 seconds bring us home sorry the best deterrent is to stop overfishing the ocean stuff starving these orcas they need a food supply we're taking it away from them and that's going to cause serious problems we've got to stop diminishing fish populations in the ocean thank you thank you arto thank you Charles thank you viewers for your contributions as well I'll see

you next time take care everybody [Music] thank you