Risk of lethal vessel strikes to humpback and fin whales off the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada

We are grateful to the pilots, navigational officers, and support staff of Transport Canada's National Aerial Surveillance Program (NASP) and Environment Canada's Marine Aerial Reconnaissance Team (MART), whose expertise and enthusiasm ensured the success of our aerial surveys for cetaceans. We also thank the following individuals for their assistance during the aerial surveys as observers and/or for conducting data entry: Robin Abernethy, Graeme Ellis, Brian Gisborne, James Pilkington, Frances Robertson, Hawsun Sohn, Lisa Spaven, Eva Stredulinsky, and Jared Towers. We thank Christie McMillan for her help in preparing the aerial survey data for spatial analysis. Allan Roberts generously provided code and advice for developing the GAMs in R. Yvan Simard and Nathalie Roy made their 2013 AIS marine traffic dataset available for this study and offered guidance in its use. Angelia Vanderlaan and Robert Kenney gave their advice regarding analytical techniques for evaluating ship strike risk. Thomas Doniol-Valcroze provided recommendations regarding the construction and application of detection functions for large whales. Since its inception in 2011, funding for this project (both financial and in-kind) has been provided by the InterDepartmental Recovery Fund, Transport Canada (NASP), Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Species at Risk Program and Strategic Program for Ecosystem-Based Research and Advice, and the Port of Vancouver.