This is in my area of the world The Maritimes in Canada. I think it's important to note (as of Sept 2017) of the thirteen, not seven, whales that died two were

This is in my area of the world The Maritimes in Canada. I think it's important to note (as of Sept 2017) of the thirteen, not seven, whales that died two were tangled in fishing gear but the other eleven were killed either by blunt force trauma or it was inconclusive. Blunt force trauma is from a ship running into the whale. Operators of cruise ships, oil tankers, ore barges, shipping container ships and other large vessels wouldn't even know they hit anything. This area has a large amount of smaller fishing vessels, some medium but many large ships are heading to or from the Great Lakes region via the St. Lawrence river. South of Nova Scotia would see ship traffic heading to busy large ports on the US east coast. The Bay of Fundy is busy too with oil tankers, cruise ships, high speed ferry boat, various types of fishing vessels. I can probably speak for most in my region when I say last summer (2017) it felt like 'suddenly whales!'. The occasional dead whale would wash ashore and often it was deemed natural causes but last year it seemed every other day there was news of a dead whale. And not just any whale but a Right whale. There isn't any one solution it's not only fishermen or only tankers and cruise ships. Fishermen this year have heavy restrictions on rope size for traps and nets. And fishermen are now told to immediately stop fishing when a whale is near, and I mean immediately with only a few minutes notice. Cruise ships have been told to use idle speed in areas where whales have been reported, many cruise ships just cancel visits turn around and go somewhere else. It's been bad for the local economy with fishermen not able to fish during their designated season of eight weeks, closures for whales doesn't extend the season. The loss of thousands of cruise ship passengers to small town ports also has a big impact for small business who make or break during a few months of the summer. Here is a DFO report about the incidents PDF http://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/right_whales.php http://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/right_whales.php