I recently argued with my GF concerning the tactics of the Sea Shepard crew of "Whale
Wars" on Animal Planet. Seeing as many of us are naval enthusiasts, I though I'd bring the
discussion here.

http://animal.discovery.com/tv/whale-wars/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_Wars

Synopsis: this series follows the crew of the Steve Irwin (SI), a ship who is crewed and
funded by the non-profit organization Sea Shepards. The SI (flying a Dutch flag)
interferes with Japanese boats off the coast of Antarctica as they harvest whales. The
Japanese maintain that they are researching sustainably whaling techniques, while the Sea
Shepards argue that it is in direct violation of International Law and barbaric.

I am pretty well-read concerning the international whaling laws, the Japanese research
efforts, the Sea Shepards' arguments against the Japanese, the history of Paul Watson (the
SI captain and Sea Shepard leader), but only have a limited knowledge of the show (I just
watched 3 episodes). The organization is based out of a town I used to live in, and I am
familiar with the political issues.

My questions are these:
-who do you support and why?
-is this show beneficial or detrimental to either organization involved?
-is there a better way to affect whale harvesting, regardless of motive?
-any other general thoughts by you?
-am I wasting my time here, and should I be paying attention to the conference call I am on?

I have my own opinions, and will state them once the thread gets going (I tried to be as
unbiased as possible in my descriptions). Since the original argument was with my GF, I
already started off as being wrong :P