SEASON TWO

In March 2009, when the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel The Steve Irwin docked in Hobart, Tasmania, it was met by two dozen members of the Australian Federal Police. They were there to confiscate hundreds of hours of videotape, launching an investigation into what was one of the most intense and dramatic campaigns ever conducted by the Sea Shepherds in their 30-year history.

Those seized tapes and hundreds of hours of other footage comprise the second season of Whale Wars. More dangerous, drama-filled and controversial than ever, Whale Wars returns with a vengeance. Collisions at sea, harrowing nautical maneuvers, a near-death experience in an ice field and more aggressive Japanese defenses against the Sea Shepherds - including the use of Long Range Acoustical Devices (LRADs), sonic devices that cause intense pain and could cause permanent hearing damage - are just some of the highlights in store this season.

And this year, the Japanese whaling fleet suffered a deadly loss as one of its workers slipped and fell overboard (not during an engagement with the Sea Shepherds) and whose body was never recovered. Captain Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd offered to help in a rescue mission for the missing worker, but the whaling vessels claimed they did more to interfere than assist.

"I have always said that we would do everything we can short of hurting people to end illegal whaling in the Antarctic," says Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd. "We have done everything we could with the resources available to us this year. We shut down their illegal operations for over a month in total. We cost them money, and we have saved the lives of a good many whales."

This season on Whale Wars, in addition to returning crew members Peter Brown (First Officer), Peter Hammarstedt (Second Officer), Chris Aultman (Helicopter Pilot/Aviation Director), Laurens de Groot (Deckhand), Ben Potts (Helicopter Crew) and Shannon Mann (Quartermaster), The Steve Irwin is joined by Jane Taylor (Quartermaster), Luke Van Horn (Communications Officer), Andy Perry (Leading Deckhand), Molly Kendall (Deckhand) and Laura Dakin (Chief Cook). These featured crew members help comprise the 40 international crew who spent the winter putting their lives on the line for whales.

SEASON ONE

Captain Paul Watson founded his Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 1977 because he believed his new organisation had to go even further to eradicate whaling, poaching, shark finning and habitat destruction — and to uphold international conservation laws on the high seas — than the Greenpeace group he had co-founded.

For several years, Watson's group of staff and volunteers have engaged in a campaign almost every winter to find and stop Japanese ships that hunt whales in the name of research, attempting to stop them by any non-violent means necessary. The eclectic group — labeled activists, heroes and/or eco-pirates — leave port in Melbourne, Australia for a two-month campaign that is dangerous, controversial and has garnered international media attention. Sea Shepherd's dedicated international crew have spent their holidays over the past several years risking their lives at the bottom of the Earth to save whales.

In the Spotlight

During the 2007-2008 campaign, Discovery captured the intensity of Sea Shepherd's mission and the trials and tribulations of the crew in a seven-part, hour-long weekly series: Whale Wars. The campaign was particularly eventful, with multiple engagements, capsizing, possible hostage taking and alleged shooting, and Discovery crews were onboard to document it all as it unfolded.

Highlighting both the controversial whaling trade and the tactics that Sea Shepherd, its staff and volunteers use to attempt to cripple it, the series documents the group's three-month sojourn across the icy Antarctic waters at the far end of the globe. Each week on Whale Wars, we will take viewers on a powerful and adrenaline-fuelled adventure and spotlight how the group takes action against alleged illegal whaling operations.

Aggressive Tactics

The Society's fight to eradicate Japanese whaling on the high seas — where international laws are interpreted by different countries and organisations in different ways — utilises some aggressive techniques, including ramming and disabling whaling ships, disrupting whale carcass processing, engaging in physical entanglement and boarding and dispersing fleets of whaling vessels. For the campaign this season, Sea Shepherd christened its vessel in honour of the late iconic conservationist Steve Irwin with the blessing of his wife Terri.

"Whaling has no place in the 21st century," noted Watson. "Sea Shepherd will not stop until the killing ends."

Related links:

- Find out about Whale Wars
- See the Whale Wars episode guide
- See Whale Wars photos
- Watch exclusive Whale Wars videos