Whales ganging up on fishing boats, feasting on their catches

Killer whales have begun ganging up on fishing boats off the coast of Alaska, stripping fishing lines clean and in some cases driving individual boats clear back into port.

One boat owner, speaking to the National Post, compared pods of orcas to motorcycle gangs.

“We’ve been chased out of the Bering Sea,” Paul Clampitt, Washington state-based co-owner of the F/V Augustine, said in a story in the National Post.

What used to be merely a nuisance has become a costly problem for fishermen.

Many boats, including the Augustine, have tried electronic noisemakers to ward off the animals, but they “became a dinner bell” for the orcas, Clampitt said.

The whales seem to be targeting specific boats, and they’re becoming more aggressive, the Alaska Dispatch News writes.

Longtime Bering Sea fisherman Jay Hebert said if he spots whales, he simply stops fishing, because it’s not worth the expense.

“It’s gotten completely out of control,” he told the Dispatch News.

This story was originally published June 22, 2017 at 8:10 AM with the headline "Whales ganging up on fishing boats, feasting on their catches."