Humpback Whale Project

Bermuda lies halfway between the humpback whales’ feeding grounds in the western North Atlantic and their wintering and breeding grounds in the Caribbean.  For centuries, Bermuda’s survival as a colony depended on whaling and its products: meat, leather, and blubber.  In 1940 and 1942, the last two humpback whales were hunted and killed in Bermuda. 

The Humpback Whale Film & Research Project, Bermuda was started in 2007 by Andrew Stevenson to study the humpbacks as they migrate past Bermuda and to document their lives with underwater, high-definition video footage and hydrophone recordings.  The project is building a research database of humpback whale tail fluke identification photographs while also recording social behavior.  The goal of the project is to broaden knowledge of our shared ocean and to produce a 30-minute documentary for children and adults about marine mammals and their environment with particular focus on the charismatic humpback whales.

The Humpback Whale Project has logged 700 hours on the water since 2007.  Whereas only 40 Bermuda fluke identifications were recorded from 1968 to 2006. from 2007 to 2009 the project has recorded more than 275.  Whale-watching has become a spring ritual off Bermuda as a large number of these magnificent marine mammals migrate from their winter breeding and birthing grounds in the Caribbean to their summer feeding grounds in Maine, Massachusetts, Newfoundland, Greenland and Iceland.  As a mid-ocean seamount rising above the surface of the water, Bermuda represents a wonderful frontier of discovery into the migratory behavior of humpback whales.

The findings obtained during the whales’ mid-ocean crossing are shared with marine biologists from around the world.  Scientists believe this window into the migratory lives of humpbacks is essential to ensure the survival of whales in our shared regions.

For more information about The Humpback Whale Film and Research Project visit

WWW.WHALESBERMUDA.COM