FREDERICTON, New Brunswick – Scientists are recommending speed zones for ship traffic as one way to help the endangered North Atlantic right whale population.

Whale experts studying the right whale in the Bay of Fundy this summer said that while there are more calves than usual, too many of the slow-moving leviathans are being killed in ship collisions.

Moira Brown of the New England Aquarium says the Canadian government’s decision to alter shipping lanes in the Bay of Fundy has helped the right whale, but the U.S. government has not yet acted on recommendations for ocean speed limits and shipping lane changes.

A new report by marine scientists says the right whale faces extinction within the next 100 years if current mortality rates continue. In the past 16 months, there have been eight recorded right whale deaths, but it’s believed there are many more unreported deaths.

There are only 325 to 350 North Atlantic right whales left in the world.

The whales pass through the Gulf of Maine each year while traveling to and from their summer feeding grounds in the Bay of Fundy.