With heavy metal music through underwater speakers, sailors try to stop killer whales from ramming boats in southwest Europe.

Such attacks have become a major problem in the region with scientists unable to interpret animal behavior such as why they are increasing or what is causing the specific actions.

Things are so bad as pods of killer whales destroy boats and capsize ships, with sailors resorting to desperate measures in an attempt to prevent the attacks.

In a final concoction, some argue that heavy metal music helps with the problem, but others are not convinced.

Boat operators have shared their tips on social media platforms such as Facebook, including through a group called ‘Orca Attack Reports’, which has 60,000 members.

According to the claims of heavy metal music advocates playing full volume Eastern European thrash metal the whales’ behavior changed.

“They made three approaches and left after 5 minutes without doing any damage,” says one person who participates in the online group.

When asked for advice on how to deal with killer whale attacks, another Facebook user added: “Heavy metal, or drum and bass. It got loud…”

However, German sailor Florian Rutsch, who operates a catamaran for trips to the Iberian Peninsula, told The New York Times that he had tried a similar method and it didn’t work.

Mr Rutsch said a pod of killer whales slammed into his boat’s rudders and disabled his rudder, despite him throwing sand in the water and playing heavy metal music in an attempt to prevent it.

“It’s scary,” said Mr Rutsch, who had to tow his boat after calling the Spanish authorities for help.

“No one knows what works, what doesn’t work.”

However, that didn’t stop someone from creating a Spotify playlist called “Metal for Orcas”