I'm a complete layperson but reading articles lately it seems that the whale population in general is recovering, due to regulations and a halted whale hunting.

I'm a complete layperson but reading articles lately it seems that the whale population in general is recovering, due to regulations and a halted whale hunting. So could this be a side-effect of a larger whale population? More whales, higher statistical probability to attack some human boat. There are after all thousands of human controlled vessels in the sea at any time. Ancient texts indicate that these were monsters to be feared, so maybe back in ancient times, before whale hunting became efficient, this was a frequent danger.