The first ship to be fined for violating a Transport Canada imposed speed limit in the Gulf of St Lawrence is the Seven Seas Navigator.
The luxury cruise ship has 30 days to pay a $6,000 penalty or launch an appeal.
Transport Canada imposed the temporary mandatory ten knot speed limit on August 11th in an effort to protect the North Atlantic Right Whale.
These measures come after more than a dozen whales have turned up dead since June.
The speed limit applies to vessels 20 metres or longer in waters stretching from the north shore of Quebec to just north of PEI as shown below.
In an effort to ensure compliance, Transport Canada, working in partnership with the Canadian Coast Guard and its Marine Communications and Traffic Services Centres, is monitoring marine traffic in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Overall, the shipping industry has been proactive in respecting the speed limits. In some instances, vessels have exceeded the ten knot limit, most of which were slightly higher for a short amount of time.
These are being reviewed on a case by-case-basis by Transport Canada.