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http://www.discoveryuk.com/web/whale-wars/video/
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WHALE WARS - VIKING SHORES (NEW):
Series Premieres Friday, April 27 at 8 PM (et/pt).
In the North Atlantic, between Iceland and Scotland, lays a chain of islands with picturesque beaches and rolling green hills. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing Danish Territory of 50,000 people - descendants of Vikings, bound by proud tradition who have fished these waters for thousands of years. But there is a dark shadow over this beautiful land. Every year, Faroese people gather to herd pilot whales to their shallow shores to be killed for their meat, which is a food source.
WHALE WARS: VIKING SHORES, a new five-part series, documents "Operation Ferocious Islands," Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's whale defense campaign as they set sail to end this ancient tradition known as "The Grind" - Faroese for "whale drive" - that takes place every summer. With over 20 killing beaches spread across 18 islands, stopping this hunt won't be easy. For the first time in the history of the WHALE WARS saga, the Sea Shepherds are not only at sea but also deploying a covert team to patrol the streets, interact with locals and carry out undercover missions. Each one-hour episode follows the Sea Shepherd's land-air-sea campaign led by Paul Watson as they try to find the whales before the locals do. A hunt can happen at any moment, and the Sea Shepherds are vastly outnumbered in a new kind of face-to-face battle.
http://press.discovery.com/us/apl/programs/whale-wars-viking-shores/
WHALE WARS - NEW SEASON (for the UK):
A brand new series of Whale Wars begins Friday 30th March at 9pm only on Discovery channel.
When the Japanese whale meat processing ship — the Nisshin Maru — turned around and set its course back to its home port in mid-February, Captain Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherds declared a cautious victory. Watson and his international conservationist group have been hell bent on stopping the whaling industry for nearly a decade, harassing them and making international headlines in the process. Perhaps the Sea Shepherds' tactics finally had taken their toll... The whalers' actions not only signaled a possible victory for the Sea Shepherds, it also meant hundreds of whales' lives in the Antarctic would be spared this year through an unprecedented cancellation of an entire nation's whale hunt. But was it a final victory or just a temporary conquest?
The Emmy®-nominated Whale Wars returns for a capitvating fourth series with 10 exhilarating episodes documenting the Sea Shepherds' dramatic campaign on the Antarctic high seas. The series has enthralled audiences who have witnessed the dangerous cat-and-mouse game at the far end of the globe between the Sea Shepherds and the whalers. For years, Captain Paul Watson and his Sea Shepherd Conservation Society crew have taken to the high seas in an attempt to stop Japanese ships from hunting whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Whale Wars documents the ongoing battles in the icy Antarctic waters as the conflict between Sea Shepherds and the whalers grows more intense with each engagement — each pushing the other to the limit to fight for their beliefs.
Brand new series of Whale Wars begins Friday 30th March at 9pm only on Discovery
This new season is full of the drama that viewers have come to expect from the Sea Shepherds' campaigns, including new equipment in their arsenal — a new vessel that's almost as fast but far bigger than the boat destroyed last year, a helicopter with a greater range, secret GPS devices, and more. Aside from the Sea Shepherds' new tactics, there are harrowing experiences unlike any viewers will have seen before, including a crew stranded overnight in freezing conditions and a tragic mayday call. Captain Alex Cornelissen joins the campaign to helm the Bob Barker, and Captain Lockhart Maclean takes command of the Sea Shepherds' newest small vessel, the Gojira.
As Watson has said, "In order to save the whales, people have to be willing to risk their lives." And, before this campaign, when a reporter asked pointedly if he really couldn't stop whaling, he vehemently responded, "We can't stop whaling? That's what they once said about slavery, but it was stopped. So yes, we can stop whaling."
The third season of Whale Wars averaged nearly 1.4 million viewers, 29% above the season two average. In 2009, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recognized Whale Wars with a Television Academy Honor identifying it as "Television with a Conscience" for exploring issues of concern to society in a compelling, emotional and insightful way. The series has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy® for Outstanding Cinematography in a Non-Fiction Series (twice) and Outstanding Picture Editing for a Non-Fiction Series.
http://www.discoveryuk.com/web/whale-wars/about/
THE WHALE DEBATE:
When Whaling Was Accepted
Not long ago, whaling was more or less universally accepted. Whale oil lit lamps and kept machines running smoothly in industrial nations. Whalebone, or baleen, was used in parasol ribs and women's dresses. Whales were seen as resources to be exploited rather than thinking, feeling animals with their own intrinsic value. Whale stocks were considered limitless, or nearly so — that is, until these great animals began to disappear.
A Long History of Exploitation
Those who oppose a return to commercial whaling point to a long history of unsustainable exploitation and mismanagement of whale stocks, one that led to the endangerment and near-extinction of many whale species.
For decades, annual catch limits established by the IWC were more than whale populations could bear. Likewise, secret and illegal whaling activity — most notably by the Soviet Union between 1951 and 1972 (according to evidence of falsified reports revealed in the early 1990's) — played a major role in nearly wiping out many whales that are still endangered to this day. Would a resumption of commercial whaling inevitably lead to a repeat of history?
The Intrinsic Value of Whales
In the 1960's, when whale stocks were crashing and undersea exploration was on the rise, a new breed of scientists began to express concern for whales. Instead of simply warning about the depletion of a natural resource, these scientists spoke about the intrinsic value of whales, something that made many of their peers uncomfortable. As whales were increasingly watched, filmed and studied, their high intelligence, rich social lives, and ability to feel emotion and experience pain became apparent. These revelations galvanized activists like Paul Watson, who helped start the anti-whaling movement in the 1970's. They also influenced scientists, policy makers, the public — in fact, entire nations — leading to an international moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986.
No Reason to Hunt Whales?
Those opposed to whaling say there is no longer any reason to hunt whales in a world where petroleum has replaced whale oil, whale meat is no longer necessary for survival and we know so much about the intelligence and complex social lives of whales. We know that, when not killed instantly, it often takes 10 to 35 minutes for a whale to die once harpooned, and that they suffer. In Japan, a 2006 Gallup poll found that 83 percent of Japanese had not eaten whale in long time, or never. As evidenced by the booming whale-watching industry, millions would rather see whales alive than dead. And the IWC continues to oppose a return to commercial whaling.
Why do we still hunt whales?
Human beings have hunted whales for thousands of years. Evidence of whale-hunting activity in Japan dates back to at least 10,000 B.C., but the modern controversy over whaling really began at the beginning of the 20th century with the advent of steam ships and explosive harpoons. Until quite recently, whaling was accepted as a legitimate source of food, oil and bone products in many countries; in Japan, for example, whale meat was an important food source during and after World War 2, and still accounted for almost half the nation’s protein in 1947.
This history is an important part of why the Japanese continue to hunt whales. Attempts to stop the nation's whaling are perceived by many as a threat to Japanese culture. According to its defenders, eating whale meat is an old and impenetrable Japanese tradition. "No one has the right to criticize the food culture of another people," said Matayuki Komatsu of Japan's Fisheries Agency.
A sense of pride also fuels Japan's commitment to whaling. To some, the words and actions of those who oppose Japanese whaling are "culturally arrogant" and unnecessarily harsh. This only serves to strengthen the country's resolve to maintain its whaling, according to some.
Widespread opposition to whaling began in the 1960s and 1970s, when whales were shown to be highly intelligent and social animals that could feel pain and experience emotion. The methods used to kill whales were seen as excessively cruel, often causing them considerable suffering before death. Whaling opponents also pointed out that petroleum-based products had replaced whale oil as a fuel source for lamps, and that farming now provided abundant protein from more sustainable sources. With support from scientists and governments, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) passed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982. By 1986, most nations had completely stopped their whaling activities.
Whaling in the 21st century
Today, the UK and many other countries still strongly oppose commercial whaling of any kind, both on grounds of cruelty and conservation. But a small number of countries say that whaling is an important part of their cultural heritage and defend their right to kill whales for food and sustenance. Whales are still hunted on a small, localised scale in the USA, Denmark, Russia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, where IWC rules still allow subsistence whaling by aboriginal peoples such as Alaska's Inuits.
Despite widespread objection, commercial whaling is still conducted by three countries; Iceland, Norway and Japan. Iceland and Norway, in particular, have long objected to the IWC moratorium and have recently resumed their whaling activities. Japan notionally adheres to the commercial ban but instead hunts whales under a loophole in IWC regulations, which allows a certain number of animals to be killed for scientific research. Japan currently kills around 1,000 minke whales for so-called scientific purposes every year, as well as about 100 endangered fin and humpback whales.
The British government has repeatedly urged the Japanese, Icelandic and Norwegian governments to stop whaling activities, claiming that populations are too low to support commercial whaling of any species and that killing of even small numbers threatens their long-term survival. Many critics also point out that in countries such as Iceland, whaling damages sustainable, profitable tourism industries such as whale-watching. But the whaling countries vigorously defend their actions. Iceland insists that its economy is highly dependent on using all of its marine resources; while Japan says that its scientific research shows that minke whale populations in particular are large enough to support a return to commercial whaling.
http://www.discoveryuk.com/web/whale-wars/about/the-whale-debate/
THE ARGUMENT AGAINST WHALING:
In Defence of the Great Whales
by Captain Paul Watson
The situation with Japanese whaling is quite simply that the activities of the Japanese whaling fleet are illegal under international conservation law.
Japanese whalers are targeting protected and endangered whales in an established international whale sanctuary in violation of a global moratorium on commercial whaling. In so doing, they are in violation of the regulations of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and the Antarctic Treaty which specifically prohibits commercial activity in Antarctic waters. The refuelling of the whaling ships south of sixty degrees is also a violation of the Antarctic Treaty. In addition, the Japanese whalers are in contempt of a Federal Australian Court ruling that in January 2008 specifically prohibited whaling activities in the Australian Antarctic Territory.
Japanese claims that they are doing “research” whaling are bogus. This so called research began in 1986, the year the commercial moratorium was imposed. There is no provision to do “research” whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and the Japanese whalers have not been given CITES permits to kill endangered Fin whales.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is not protesting Japanese whaling. We are an anti-poaching organization and we are intervening in accordance with the principles of the United Nation World Charter for Nature, ratified by the United Nation General Assembly in 1982 that allows for non-governmental organizations to uphold international conservation law.
Since the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was established in 1977, the organization has consistently intervened against illegal activities that exploit marine life and habitats. The Society has never been convicted of any felony crimes arising out of our interventions and no person has ever been injured in a Sea Shepherd campaign. We have an unblemished record of non-violence although we refer to our approach as aggressive non-violence because we have no hesitation in destroying equipment that is illegally used to violate international conservation law.
The strategy of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is to undermine the profits of the Japanese whaling industry. Our objective is to sink the Japanese whaling fleet – economically. For three years in a row we have negated whaling profits and cut their quotas in half. They are in debt and losing money every year they return. We will continue to oppose and intervene against their illegal activities until we bankrupt their industry.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is an international marine conservation organization funded by private donations and our ships are staffed by dedicated volunteer men and women from around the world. What we do is legal, effective, educational and makes for a compelling television series illustrating how average people can successfully defend our planet in the most remote and hostile area of the world against a powerful, wealthy yet viciously violent criminal opposition.
My crew and I risk our lives in defence of defending life in our oceans. This is the ultimate reality show – because nothing is more real than risking all to defend this planet.
www.discoveryuk.com/web/whale-wars/about/the-argument-against-whaling/
THE SEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY:
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