Whale research website celebrates one million hits

Andrew Stevenson, the conservationist and filmmaker behind the Humpback Whale Film and Research Project, set up www.whalesbermuda.com three years ago to encourage islanders to report their sightings.

Since then, interest in his project has spread around the globe, with marine scientists also keen to follow Mr. Stevenson’s findings.

Commenting on the achievement, he said: “This marks a significant milestone as we embark on our fifth year of collecting data on the North Atlantic humpback whales migrating past our shores.”

Mr. Stevenson has collected more than 400 fluke IDs in the past four years from whales passing the island.

Under each Humpback’s tail or fluke is its ‘fingerprint’ — an individual set of markings.

Working with the Allied Whale group at the College of the Atlantic, in Bar Harbor, Maine, Mr. Stevenson and researchers have succeeded in identifying humpbacks making repeat journeys to Bermuda.

The sightings are giving scientists a valuable insight into the whales’ migratory lifestyle.