Underwater film star makes comeback

Magical Whale — the ‘star’ of Where the Whales Sing — was photographed at Challenger Banks by marine enthusiast Ken Vickers on Thursday.

The whale was last seen in 2007 when filmmaker Andrew Stevenson captured mesmerizing footage of the friendly, playful whale off the shores of Bermuda.

Since he launched his Humpback Whale Film and Research Project and produced Where the Whales Sing, Mr. Stevenson has attracted interest from around the globe into these giants of the deep.

Emotional

He has also earned praise from the international film community.

Where the Whales Sing was awarded High Honours at this year’s Princeton Environmental Film Festival while last year he was voted Best Emerging Underwater Filmmaker at the BLUE Ocean Film Festival in California.

In the movie, Mr. Stevenson’s six-year-old daughter Elsa narrates how Magical Whale fascinates them with his playfulness and underwater ‘dancing’.

Mr. Stevenson said he felt “very emotional” when he received Mr. Vickers’ photograph via e-mail.

He had feared the whale had been killed in the North Atlantic due to his ‘friendly’ nature in approaching passing boats.

Elsa and Mr. Vickers — who also appears in the film as a diver investigating a shipwreck — were said to be “ecstatic”.

Mr. Stevenson said: “Magical Whale has now been identified twice and only in Bermuda — in 2007 and 2011.

“I assume he feeds in an area which is not heavily-populated, such as Greenland, because he hasn’t been seen by many photographers.

“I’m sure he’s an old whale too, because of all his scars. With the way Magical Whale approaches boats, he is increasing his chances of being killed by hunters.

“Humpbacks are protected here and in the US, Caribbean and Canada, but they can now be hunted legally in Greenland.

“Last summer Greenland was given a quota by the International Whaling Commission to kill 27 humpback whales — nine per year over three years.

“It is estimated there are about 1,158 humpback whales feeding in Greenland waters, so 27 whales is about 2.3 per cent of the population.”

In Bermuda, Magical Whale was identified by his fluke, or tail ID, which is identical to that in the 2007 photo taken by Kevin Horsefield.

Mr. Stevenson said: “I feel even more compelled to go to Greenland now with Elsa.

Unprotected

“I’d like to go and look for Magical Whale there.

“We have been in touch with teachers there and Elsa is pen-pals with Inuit children and so we’d like to find out how these schoolchildren feel about these animals.

“Is killing and eating them part of their culture  or do these children feel differently, especially after seeing a film like this?

“For me, Magical Whale

is an allegory for ‘the tragedy of the commons’, of what’s happening in the oceans.

“The commons weren’t owned by anyone, they were shared. The middle of the ocean is also our commons, there is no jurisdiction over it.

“But this means there are unprotected areas for marine wildlife.”

But Mr. Stevenson said he is buoyed by the number of sightings this year.

“We’ve seen between 20 and 50 whales a day when we’ve been out, which is more than ever,” he said.

“Maybe we’re getting better at finding the whales or perhaps there are more of them.”

Some of his most exciting footage is of two whales rubbing themselves down in a 40ft sand hole near Chubb Head.

Mr. Stevenson described the footage, taken last Monday, as “unique”.

“The whales reminded me of elephants having a bath or labradors rolling over onto their backs to rub themselves down on a carpet.”

Both whale flukes were matched with previous records by Bermuda conservationist Judie Clee.

Mr. Stevenson said: “The first whale was photographed in Bermuda 34 years ago, in 1977, by a scientist.

“This marks the longest time span we’ve had of a whale photographed in Bermuda.

Coincidence

“The other whale is a male who was first photo-graphed 27 years ago (1984), again in Bermuda. So that is an amazing coincidence.

“I have sent the (video) link to whale experts everywhere and nobody has seen this kind of behaviour before.”

Since Mr. Stevenson set up his website to encourage islanders to report their sightings, his project has captured the interest of scientists worldwide.

He has collected more than 400 fluke IDs of whales passing Bermuda.

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 identified humpbacks making repeat journeys to Bermuda.

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