Being possibly the only one on this BBS that is actually a biologist, I would like to state my side.
This show, is a very sorry attempt at nobility. Paul Watson (the Captain) is a whack job (in more than one circle), and the crew is as inept as any there has ever been. The only natural ending for this endeavor will be the loss of one or more of the crew in some inanely stupid accident, which will no doubt be left at the foot of the Japanese. (Which is also, I surmise, what Watson is truly and ultimately attempting to do) The "Sea Shepards" do their own cause a disservice simply by their existence, and their tactics. I am completely unsympathetic to these morons. This show is legitimately harming the very ideology they are out to spread. When people ask me what I think of them, I simple term them as "irrational and clueless".
I swear that the helicopter pilot thinks he's Maverick, walking around the ship with a patched out flight suit.(He wasn't a pilot, but an avionics technician in the USMC) I suppose that might work on some clueless eco-tail on that ship, who knows. I've watched the show in disbelief at the lack of seamanship dispalyed by nearly every member of the crew, and the zealot nature displayed by nearly every member of the command staff. The only peron that appears to have a rational side among them is the doctor.
That being said...
The Japanese are skirting the ban on commercial whaling, by claiming more than their "share" (as designated by the IWC moratorium) of whales for "scientific" purposes. They are killing these animals that are protected, and illegally profitting from the loophole in the maritime law that states the "entire animal must be used or consumed" after killing. It's honestly one of the largest jokes in marine biology, what the Japanese term "cetacean research". And don't be mistaken, they wouldn't send a fleet if it wasn't profitable.
Whether or not whaling should be legal is not up for discussion anymore. The IWC moratorium has been in place for many years. If, for example, a group went around killing bald eagles, (under the guise of research) then selling and making a profit from them, people would be absolutely horrified.
I honestly hope whoever is funding them (the Sea Sheppards) runs out of money. Neither continuation of their sorties into the Antarctic, nor the sinking of their ship and death of any or all of their crew, is good for anyone. I really just wish they would go away.... they aren't helping.