And FYI: Greenpeace kicked Paul Watson out of their organization because their sole purpose is to watch and bear witness, not to actually try to stop anything from happening. They’re no better than human cameras, and in fact they’re much less since their eyes don’t record a single thing for others to see.

Have you really watched all the episodes? The people on the Sea Shepherd may mean well but they have a very warped sense of their own responsibility. Granted the Japanese may be taking advantage of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) ruling, but they were forced into by the U.S. The Japanese have historically always had a whaling industry as their source of protein (it makes up 1/4 of their diet today). It is analogous to several foreign countries getting together and saying to the U.S. that they have passing a moratorium on beef slaughtering and they will embargo your products if you do not agree.

But regardless of the Japanese, the Sea Shephard and Paul Watson are willing to harm themselves and the Japanese if that is what it takes (at some point when humans put animal life ahead of their own lives and other human life, it seems like their priorities are a bit warped.

Even GreenPeace kicked Paul Watson out of their organization and distanced themselves from the Sea Sheapard because of the extreme eco-terrorism acts they seem willing to take.

*Launching the small Zodiac boats: they do so without a lot of training–capsizing once, almost loosing individuals to the sea or being hit by the prop.

*Several times “Capt Paul” has indicated he cares more about keeping up with the Japanese factory ship than he cares about his zodiac boat crews safety. One episode he said, “…keep on the Japanese ship, our boats can catch up”, when in fact the small boat was navigating around small icebergs, unable to catch up.

*It really summed up to me what Paul Watson is about when he staged to have two of his people sneak on board the Japanese ship, then when the Japanese discovered what was happening, the held the two uninvited, potentially armed crew. Meanwhile Paul had his photographer to take pictures of the Japanese holding onto the two Sea Shepherd crewmates to try to get them back on their own boat. Paul spun it like this: “The Japanese have kidnapped two of our crew and are illegally detaining them”. [unbelievable, wouldn't you say?]

All the while, the Sea Shepherd crew all seem to really think they are at “war”. The problem is, their actions have inflamed the Japanese people nationally and in turn, it has escalated Japanese counter-defenses like water cannons and LRAD technology. I won’t be surprised if tear gas, non-lethal bullets and other things like that start to show up on one side or the other.

Also, while most viewers of Whale Wars like the TV drama, they overwhelmingly disapprove of Paul Watson’s antics and think the Sea Shepherd is out of line.

Sooner or later, the cost will be human lives and they may just serve to escalate tension–leading nowhere toward a solution.

The Sea Shepherd might actually save many times more whales if they went after the number one predator of Minke whales: Antarctic Killer whales (type A) feed almost exclusively on Minke whales. Somehow the Japanese are demonized by harvesting 3,000 small Minke whales out of a total population estimated at 750,000 whales and growing.

Lastly, a psychology question: why does man value certain animal life over others or even humans? (i.e. why are whales more of a concern than cows, chicken or other animals?) Just asking….

Do people actually believe something is being accomplished by these lunatics? This is not “for a good cause” but simply pure entertainment and nothing else.