Humpback whales have been unveiled as the subject of the latest set of commemorative stamps, to be released this week.

The Bermuda Post Office announced that the release, the second of the year, would feature black and white photographs of the marine mammals, which migrate past the island every spring.

A spokesman for the BPO said the stamps would go on sale on Thursday at the cost of $4 for a full set and $7 for the first-day cover.

“Centuries of global commercial whaling decimated cetacean populations,” the spokesman said.

“However, a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 allowed these majestic marine mammals to make a remarkable comeback.

“Historically, Bermuda's inhabitants also hunted humpback whales for their meat, blubber and oil, with the last whale captured in Bermuda in 1942.”

Andrew Stevenson, who has spent almost 20 years recording migrating whales, said he took the photographs used for the stamps in 2014-15 while he had a research permit, which allowed him to film the whales from the water.

He said he was thrilled to have his photographs highlighted with the stamp.

Mr Stevenson added: “It just feels unbelievable.

“It’s a very strange feeling to have contributed to a Bermuda Post stamp issuance like this.”

In recent years, Mr Stevenson has spoken at conferences about the lives of humpbacks, written and co-authored scientific papers, published illustrated books and produced two award-winning documentaries.

He said that individual humpbacks could be identified by the pigmentation patterns on their tails much like humans can be identified by their fingerprints.

“When I first started identifying humpbacks, only 140 had been recorded in Bermuda waters over the previous 40 years,” Mr Stevenson explained.

“In the past 18 years, I have identified and catalogued nearly 2,500 individual whales, building one of the largest collections of whale identifications from a single location.”

The “Whales in Bermuda” stamps are available at the Bermuda Post Office or any of its sub-post offices.

For more information, visit philatelic.bermudapost.bm.