ORCA season is returning to the Strait of Gibraltar and scientists are already working on ways to mitigate their interactions with sail boats amid rising anger from the region’s skippers.

A new campaign to track and protect the endangered Iberian orcas has kicked off from the Cadiz town of Barbate after the first pods were confirmed to have arrived in the Strait.

Conservation group CIRCE has demonstrated their method of firing cameras kitted out with suction cups to harmlessly attach to a killer whale without getting too close.

READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Yachtie warns ‘I kill an orca with a tear in my eye’ if dangerous ‘interactions’ in the Strait of Gibraltar are not tackled this summer

Known as ‘catcams’, the ambitious monitoring operation combines them with satellite tracking to better understand the behaviour of these curious creatures — especially the ones known for approaching sailing boats.

The campaign comes as part of a growing effort to reduce the number of run-ins between orcas and vessels in the Strait. 

These interactions have sparked international headlines in recent years — with orcas damaging rudders and even sinking small yachts with sailors helpless.

“We now know that keeping the boat moving is key,” explained CIRCE researchers. 

“Stopping gives orcas more time to push the rudder, which increases the risk of serious damage.”

READ MORE: Exclusive: Endangered sperm whales are dying in the Strait of Gibraltar – as experts reveal ‘biggest culprit’

So far, the team has tracked 42 individual orcas from three major family groups. In total, some 90 have been identified since 1999.

The campaign has three fundamental objectives: reducing encounters between vessels and orcas, minimising impact when encounters occur, and modifying orca behaviour through specific techniques.

READ MORE: WATCH: Vessels in the Strait of Gibraltar are being fitted with sharpened blades to the rudders to ward off critically-endangered orcas

Two research vessels will be deployed, including their main boat, Elsa, along with land-based observations to assess the viability of coastal monitoring which could warn sailboats of orca presence.

New safe navigation routes have already been mapped, based on predictive models and past tracking data — and appear to be working. 

Orca interactions dropped by 70% last year, with just two reported so far in 2025 according to CIRCE, while the Cruising Association put the figure at eight – and none since February.

Anecdotally, the Olive Press knows of one catamaran that has been damaged by orca strikes in the last four weeks.

READ MORE: ‘Gladys’ strikes again: Spanish coastguard launch rescue mission after orcas smash hole in side of yacht in Gibraltar Strait 

CIRCE will be hosting talks at marinas and sailing clubs around the Strait to share advice with skippers. 

They also hope to spot orcas from the coastline and issue real-time alerts to nearby vessels.

The announcement comes after the Olive Press reported rising anger among captains and skippers at the lack of progress made in tackling the orca strikes.

They have even warned that the first orca could be killed this summer if solutions are not found.

Yassine Darkaoui, a sailor who runs a repair shop in Tangier, told the Olive Press he has fixed the rudders of three separate vessels after orca interactions in the past year alone.

“I meet a lot of sailors and many of them tell me they are prepared to shoot these motherf***ers if they come and try to harm their boats or even endanger their families,” said Darkaoui, who has had to shelve plans to open a sailing centre in Tangier because of the orcas.

“Some guys invested their life savings in their boat; for them it is their home and their business. 

“So when you see that you are being attacked by those beautiful monsters, it will lead to people shooting at them.

“People are thinking that, because they’re so smart, they can teach these animals to leave them alone by killing one, which for me is not the best solution.”

“But it is just a matter of time – and not much time. Summer is coming, the tuna migration begins soon, and the orcas are coming back.

“But let me tell you, if I kill an orca, I will kill it with a tear in my eye.”

The Iberian orca is a protected species, and the maximum punishment under Spanish law for harming – or killing one – is two years in prison.  

But sailors have already been known to throw firecrackers and rice overboard at the orcas, which are sensitive to loud noises.

Gibraltar is once again gripped by the public inquiry that has pulled back the curtain on power and the powerful on the Rock.

Take a delve with the Olive Press into the circumstances surrounding former Commissioner of Police Ian McGrail’s retirement five years ago.

But dipping back into it also means watching the clips on GBC and wrapping one’s head around the mountains of information that have been released.

And what about those who gave up long ago? What exactly is the McGrail inquiry all about, why does it matter, and what could it mean for the Rock?

READ MORE: What was learned from the return of Gibraltar’s McGrail inquiry? Police explanations over ‘nothing sinister’ data losses meet severe scrutiny

At its heart, the inquiry is investigating the whys and wherefores that led to McGrail taking early retirement in June 2020. 

It involved a clash of some of the Rock’s most powerful people, in both government and the police, as well as the governor, senior lawyers and business titans. 

The evidence presented has touched upon highly sensitive matters, including criminal investigations, the Rock’s national security, and allegations of political interference. 

Any findings of wrongdoing could have serious reputational consequences for Gibraltar, particularly in its international standing and ongoing negotiations with the EU and Spain over a border treaty.

But at its heart, the McGrail inquiry can perhaps be viewed as a struggle for control between two competing power bases within Gibraltar.

READ MORE: Intrigue on the Rock: Can Gibraltar’s incoming police chief swim with the sharks?

Why is this inquiry so important? 

The inquiry has unearthed two competing narratives that go to the core of how Gibraltar operates and how power is exercised. 

McGrail contends that he was forced out due to government interference, alleging it was an attempt to shield powerful figures in Gibraltar from a criminal investigation. 

On the other hand, the government parties, including the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, the then-interim Governor Nick Pyle, and the Attorney General Michael Llamas, claim that McGrail’s retirement was due to a loss of confidence. 

The central axis around which all the events revolve is a search warrant the Royal Gibraltar Police attempted to execute at the home and offices of Hassans senior partner James Levy in May 2020. 

Levy was a person of interest – and later a suspect — in Operation Delhi, a police investigation into an alleged conspiracy to defraud the venerable Gibraltar company Bland of a government contract for the National Security Critical Infrastructure System (NSCIS).

The RGP had opted for a warrant to seize Levy’s phone because they feared Levy, as a suspect, might destroy evidence. 

READ MORE: Olive Press opinion: New Gibraltar police chief is gonna need a bigger boat

So far so clear?

This is where one of the first forks in the road appears, as the various parties disputed whether a search warrant was necessary or even advised.

The Chief Minister claimed that McGrail had lied to him about whether Christian Rocca, the Director of Public Prosecutions, had advised him to use a search warrant and not a less invasive method to get evidence from Levy’s phone.

A phone which, while containing potential evidence relating to Operation Delhi, also contained a wealth of other sensitive information – such as the business of Levy’s ‘many international, very high-net worth clients’.

Either way, certain parties were very interested that that phone should not fall into the hands of others.

Within a short number of highly intense weeks, McGrail was forced to resign. Evidence and testimony showed that Picardo had met with Levy and his lawyer in the intervening period to discuss removing McGrail.

The search warrant into Levy’s phone, meanwhile, was never executed.

READ MORE: ‘Where’s the missing police Whatsapps?’ Gibraltar’s McGrail inquiry comes back with a bang

Why did who do what?

Why was Picardo, a partner at Hassans, so keen to protect Levy, his friend, business mentor and erstwhile boss?

The Chief Minister explicitly stated during the inquiry that Levy was ‘Gibraltar’s biggest rainmaker’ and ‘one of the greatest sources of business for the financial centre’ whose very well-being was linked to the economic interests of Gibraltar.

However, others point the finger at the chairman of Bland, James Gaggero, as the ‘real string puller’ behind the scenes who triggered the whole saga for his own financial interests.

Gaggero went to see McGrail in September 2018 and again the following month to make a complaint that he was being defrauded out of the NSCIS contract.

Picardo himself considered that Gaggero was ‘actually using the RGP’ and that the RGP was ‘knowingly allowing itself to be used’ in what was essentially a ‘classic commercial dispute’ without any conspiracy to defraud that snowballed out of control.

Meanwhile, there were shadowy allusions to a ‘hack’ on Gibraltar’s national security which endangered the population and even the military base.

READ MORE: US review of global chokepoints could open ‘Pandora’s box’ in the Strait of Gibraltar – and have Spain sweating

What happens next?

The Chairman of the inquiry will ultimately produce a report based on all the evidence that he has heard, which the government has a statutory duty to publish.

Whether the thick black ‘redactor’ pen will be taken to it beforehand is another question, however,

A timeline for publication is not at all clear, especially after last week’s unexpected additional days. It had originally been expected sometime around midsummer, meaning it could now be released in the autumn.