Posted on 07/06/2022 6:10:30 PM PDT by Capt. Tom
A pair of orcas killing great white sharks by ripping open their torsos for their livers — and as a result scaring away great whites from a South African region — has raised questions about whether that could happen along Cape Cod.
But it’s “really too early to say” if killer whales will descend upon the Massachusetts coast and drive away the growing great white shark population, a local shark expert tells the Herald.
“When there have been orca sightings here through the years, they’ve never really seemed to impact the white sharks in the area,” said John Chisholm, who is with the New England Aquarium and verifies shark sighting reports on the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app.
“Will we see what happened in South Africa happen here? Time will tell,” he added. “We just have to wait and see.”
The two killer whales that have been terrorizing great whites off the coast of South Africa have driven away sharks from their aggregation site, a new study reveals.
The shark researchers used long-term sightings and tagging data to show that the great whites have been avoiding certain regions of the Gansbaai coast because they’re afraid of being hunted by orcas.
Since 2017, eight great whites have washed up on shore following an orca attack. Seven of them had their livers removed, and some had their hearts taken out, too.
Their wounds were distinctively made by the same pair of orcas, which have likely killed more great whites that haven’t washed up on shore.
Before the orcas arrived, Gansbaai was a world-renowned place for spotting great whites, with tourists across the globe visiting and partaking in cage diving.
“The more the orcas frequent these sites, the longer the great white sharks stay away,” said Alison Towner, a senior white shark biologist at the Dyer Island Conservation Trust.
The South African sea’s ecosystem is changing as a result of the orca attacks.
“It has triggered the emergence of a new mesopredator to the area, the bronze whaler shark — which is known to be eaten by the great white shark — and these bronze whalers are also being attacked by the orcas too,” Towner said.
With no great whites in the area, seals can prey on critically endangered African penguins or compete for the small fish they eat.
In May, an orca was spotted by a fisherman off Cape Cod, which is not a common sighting in the waters off Massachusetts.
The orca was later identified as “Old Thom” by Chisholm. Old Thom has been spotted in the region in past years and has a unique notch in his dorsal fin.
Over the years, there have not been any reports of orcas and sharks interacting around here.
“Of the sharks we tagged, there doesn’t seem to be a change in behavior when the orcas are present,” Chisholm said. “So in terms of the Cape, it’s really too early to say if orcas will come and have an impact here.”
Sea Hunt ran from 58 to 61...so, you must be as old as me!
Back in early 2000, I was sent to Camp Rilea in Astoria, OR to conduct some training. I went for an early morning jog on the beach and way up ahead, I saw what I thought was an end table sized boulder sticking out of the sand. As I got closer I realized it was the head of a basking shark, after which looked out to the water and noticed a few orcas frolicking a couple of hundred yards off shore.
Hmmm. Good to know.
Orcas will half beach themselves to take seal pumps off the edge of the land. At least the great whites don’t do that. I hope.
Shark liver oils is probably an orca attractant.
Saw a couple of orcas playing frisbee with a seal in Monterey Bay. Very bloody.
“Orcas feed on seals too.”
They sure do, see below. -Tom
I see 2 out of 3 smiling in that pic:)
The Orcas never heard of liver and let live.
Mostly humans in wetsuits. Wetsuits that make them look a lot like seals, which are their favorite snack.
CC
Killer whales are smart. They’ll work in packs to hunt. There’s even a video where they rush under an ice floe to cause a wave to rock the floe and dislodge a seal hiding on the floe. Clever girl!
And indeed, they are Killer Whales. Like Great Whites they will go after people if they have a chance but is rare for them to be around humans.
Relocation to Cape Cod of Nanzi Pelosi and her two orca-sized daughters is a possibility.
Eat liver without onions? How does that work?
HAHA!
Or scatter pictures of Roy Scheider(Chiel Brody) like chum in the water.
Drives them mad that an air tank could explode when hit with a bullet, which in reality it couldn’t.
And don’t bring up any of the sequels either
I wonder if they ate the livers with favha beans and a nice chianti?
Killer Whales are actually dolphins - really big dolphins.
Dolphins are documented to kill large pods of other dolphins that they just don’t like.
JMHO - they are smarter than humans.
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