Bermuda, a series of tiny islands in the middle of the ocean, provides a unique window into the pelagic lives of the humpbacks. Many visiting marine mammal scientists have tried to study the humpbacks in Bermuda in the past and gave up because it was too problematic finding the whales and the fair-weather windows that allowed the visitors to get out on the water are infrequent. As a resident, I can pick and choose the days I am on the water.

Since being the daddy-at-home raising two children, with a small number of volunteers and a few dedicated donors, I have achieved the following:

-Producing two award-winning documentary movies “Where the Whales Sing” in 2010, and “The Secret Lives of the Humpbacks” in 2019 dubbed or subtitled in several languages. Andrew has given scores of illustrated lectures and screenings of his documentary films at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI), Bermuda College, the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo, Specialty Cinema, International Women’s Club, Rotary Club, English Speaking Union, BIOS, RBYC and many Bermuda schools. Internationally, he has screened his films and been a speaker in: Dominican Republic, Washington DC, the Explorer’s Club NYC, Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in NYC; Telluride and Monterey film festivals, in the USA; Kendal in the Lake District in England; Banff in Canada; Darwin Center Bordeaux and Paris, France; Barcelona, Spain; Perth, Australia; and Ponta Delgrada, Azores.

-Publishing two books: “Whale Song: Journeys into the Secret Lives of the North Atlantic Humpbacks .“ 10,000 copies were printed in 2012 by the USA and UK publishers. “A l’ecoute des Baleines” was published in France in 2019. A third book, “The Whale Whisperer” is under contract.

-Providing thousands of free DVD copies of the movie and scores of presentations to local schoolchildren and Bermuda Underwater Institute, local cinemas and other interested audiences worldwide.

-A website WhalesBermuda with over 8 million views.

-Identifying 2,500 individual whales in Bermuda, maintaining the Bermuda Humpback Whale Catalogue, and matching them against other North Atlantic catalogues held by scientists and non-scientists alike.

-5,417 hours of acoustic recordings of the humpbacks.

-Several solo photographic exhibitions of underwater and aerial images of humpback whales exhibited at: the Bermuda National Gallery, Kaleidoscope, ACE Gallery, Masterworks Art Gallery, twice winner of the Sargeant’s Cup Marine Art Prize, Bermuda Society of Arts. Winner of the Audience Choice Award in the Prince of Wales Commonwealth Environmental Photography Competition.

-Identifying Bermuda as a principal migratory waypoint for the North Atlantic humpbacks and gaining international recognition for its additions to the scientific knowledge of the species and the establishment of Bermuda as a Marine Mammal Sanctuary. Instrumental in designating Bermuda’s EEZ as a Marine Mammal Sanctuary in 2012. Submission to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature resulted in Bermuda’s inclusion as one of the IUCN’s designated Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMA).

-Recording the lives of the humpbacks with hundreds of hours of aerial and underwater footage documenting the complex social behavior of the humpbacks never witnessed before.

-Contributing to a permanent exhibition on the humpbacks at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.

-Working with postgraduate students from both sides of the Atlantic to publish papers in scientific journals and presentations including five Society for Marine Mammology Conferences in: Quebec City, Halifax, Barcelona, Palm Beach, and Perth, Australia. Contributed to the General Assembly of the iAtlantic, a multidisciplinary research program seeking to assess the health of deep-sea and open-ocean ecosystems across the full span of the Atlantic Ocean in Edinburgh in 2019 and Florianopolis, Brazil in 2022 and in Edinburgh in October 2024. Presented at the Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative in Vancouver February 2023 and at the Humpback Whale World Congress in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic March 2023. Participated May 2024 in Mexico at the IUCN workshop to successfully put forward the case for Bermuda to be designated an IUCN Important Marine Mammal Area in February 2025. Presented at the European Cetacean Society conference Ponta Delgada May 2025.

-Papers published in scientific journals include Nature Journal, Marine Mammal Science, PANGAEA and Frontiers in Marine Science.

-Bermuda stamps using Andrew’s underwater black and white photographs included in Bermuda philately 20th March 2025.

-An additional website www.bermudaaerialography.com with photographs and 4k video showcasing Bermuda and its ocean environment