> That would give them plenty of opportunity to learn the connection between boats and food. The second half of the article is far more revealing, it details t

> That would give them plenty of opportunity to learn the connection between boats and food. The second half of the article is far more revealing, it details the state of the relationship between fishing, tourism and orcas in the Straits of Gibraltar - painting a particularly stark picture of the impact humans have had on obliterating their primary food source and dominating that area with noisy boats, their dwindling population and direct harm caused by fishing nets and hooks as they struggle to survive by picking fish from the nets instead. If accurate it seems far more likely any animal capable of drawing a relationships between boats and other events would make the reverse relationship you are suggesting (boats steal all their food, hurt them directly, kill their young)... If I were an Orca I'd find it hard to believe I wouldn't be knocking over smaller boats out of desperation as their local population has almost vanished (30 adults last estimate). Perhaps I'm wrong and their ability to reason on larger scales of time and space are not sufficient, but i'm pretty sure they are smart enough to know a boat is not edible - shaking humans off for food seems like a stretch but possible given they are pretty much starving, i will give you that.