Walter Finch
THE Strait of Gibraltar is becoming a deadly kill zone for the Mediterranean’s endangered whale populations.
Experts estimate that two sperm whales die each year during migration, with fast ferries and giant container ships being the biggest culprits.
“There are just 1,000 sperm whales left in the Mediterranean, and we estimate that every 10 years around 2% are killed in collisions with ships in the Strait,” Dr Renaud de Stephanis of conservation group CIRCE told the Olive Press.
It has been a struggle for the experts to convey the scale of the problem as injuries are hard to document and harder still to reveal to the world.
The Strait is home to seven whale species, including fin whales, sperm whales, and pilot whales – many of which are endangered.
They are mostly seen at a distance and infrequently, making it tricky to track their personal health individually.
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But each year the creatures must traverse one of the busiest international shipping lanes in the world, with 60,000 vessels passing through the Strait each year.
“I have seen three collisions with my own eyes in the region between Europa Point and Barbate in the last few years,” de Stephanis continued.
“And that’s a lot considering these creatures are not easy to spot and we’re not on the sea all the time.”
Meanwhile, the International Whaling Commission says it detected 228 cases of injured whales between 2016 and 2020 in the Strait, some with ‘severe traumas that may affect survival and fitness’.
Wounds ranged from minor straight-line scratches to gunshot wounds, severe entanglements and deep lacerations from propeller strikes.
The most recently documented death came in July, when a severely injured sperm whale was spotted surrounded by a cloud of blood in the Strait.
Known as Julio, the 15-metre cetacean had become a favourite among local whale watchers and conservationists.
“The animal was found with its viscera completely exposed and was still alive after a suspected collision with a large vessel,” CIRCE said at the time.
Meanwhile, according to a study by the journal Science, the number of whale deaths in the Strait may be underestimated.
Off the west coast of the USA, one of the most comprehensively studied areas, around 80 whales die each year.
The study found that, globally, 91.5% of the areas where whales live or migrate also cross paths with shipping lanes navigated by large ships.
But less than 7% of these ship-strike zones implement plans to manage the dangers, such as obeying a 0.7 knot speed reduction.
Along with the Strait, the Galicia coast and the Canary Islands were also identified as hotspots.
De Stephanis told this newspaper that CIRCE already has a system of on-ship observers in a beta phase but ‘we need support from Ceuta, Morocco and Gibraltar.’
The Port of Algeciras shared their ‘green plan’ with the Olive Press, which features various protections for whales in the Bay of Algeciras and the Strait.
Likewise, they will hold an event in March 2025 designed to educate captains and pilots in how to detect and avoid harming whales.
It stands in contrast to the Gibraltar Port Authority, who unfortunately did not respond to the Olive Press’ enquiries on this topic.
