Whale Wars

Whale Wars is a weekly American documentary-style reality television series that premiered on November 7, 2008 on the Animal Planet cable channel. The program follows Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, as he and his crew aboard their various vessels harass Japanese whalers off the coast of Antarctica.[1] The third season premiered on June 4, 2010.[2] Animal Planet hasrenewed the series for a fourth season set to premiere in June 2011[3].
In 2007, Paul Watson persuaded the Discovery Channel to make a reality show documentary about the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's campaign against Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary off the coast of Antarctica.[4] The Japanese claim that their whaling is legally accepted research, which Sea Shepherdand others contend is a cover for banned commercial whaling.[5] Sea Shepherd has been both criticized and praised for tactics of direct action sabotage which include throwing stink bombs of butyric acid as well as ramming, boarding, and otherwise attempting to disable the Japanese vessels.[6]
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marineconservation organization based in Friday Harbor, Washington in the United States. The group uses direct action tactics to protect sealife. Sea Shepherd currently operates the vessels MY Steve Irwin, the Bob Barker, and the MV Gojira, and most of the group's recent activities take place in international waters. The group has a strong focus on public relations to spread their message via the media.The organization was founded in 1977 under the name Earth Force Society by Paul Watson, an early member of Greenpeace, after a dispute with that organization over what Watson saw as its lack of more aggressive intervention.[1] It has received support for its tactics against fishing, whaling, and seal hunting from quarters such as media personalities, while critics have called the direct actionviolent.[2]
Operations have included scuttling and disabling whaling vessels at harbor, intervening in Canadian seal hunts, ramming other vessels, trying to temporarily blind or disorient whalers with a laser device,[3][4] throwing bottles of foul-smelling butyric acid onto vessels at sea,[4] boarding of whaling vessels while at sea, and seizure and destruction of drift nets at sea. Sea Shepherdclaims that their aggressive actions are necessary as the international community has shown itself unwilling or unable to stop species-endangering whaling and fishing practices.[5] Some governments and organizations have referred to them as terrorists.[6] In January 2010, Jun Yamashita of the Japanese Fisheries Agencies stated on the effect of Sea Shepherd's actions on the Japanese whale hunting fleet"(...) the NGO's actions have kept the fleet from reaching its quota the last few years."[7][8]
In 2008, Animal Planet began filming the weekly series Whale Wars based on the group's encounters with the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean, a development which brought the group much publicity.
HISTORY
The predecessor organization of Sea Shepherd, the "Earth Force Society", was formedin 1977, after its founder, Paul Watson was ousted from the board of Greenpeace for disagreements over his direct action activism which clashed with their pacifist ethos.[9] Watson soon left Greenpeace. Initially without funding and with only a small group of supporters, in 1978 Watson managed to convince Cleveland Amory, head of the British Fund for Animals to fund Watson's first vessel, the SeaShepherd.[5]
Activism
Sea Shepherd engages in conventional protests and direct actions to protect marine wildlife. Sea Shepherd operations have included interdiction against commercial fishing, shark poaching and finning, seal hunting, and whaling.[1][19] The group has been active in intervening against fishing and poaching in the South Pacific, the Mediterranean, and in waters around the...