The fifth season of the Emmy-nominated reality television series Whale Wars came to an end on Friday night with “Target Acquired”, its final episode. The Emmy-nominated Whale Wars features Paul Watson, the controversial founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an organization committed to protect aquatic life with direct action that is often contentious. As Paul Watson is currently in Germany dealing with legal proceedings that could see him extradited to Costa Rica on criminal charges, the future of Whale Wars is uncertain.

Whale Wars has been a boon for Animal Planet, the American cable television channel owned by the Discovery Communications media conglomerate. As previously discussed in The Costa Rica Star, Mr. Watson is responsible for much of the ratings success of Whale Wars. He not only pitched the show to Animal Planet; he also provides Whale Wars with gravitas, charisma and years of experience in both conservation and controversy. His commitment to aquatic life conservation at almost all costs resulted in his arrest by German authorities earlier this year after Costa Rica issued an extradition order due to an incident in the high seas involving a Tico fishing vessel and a ship commanded by Mr. Watson.

Season 5 of Whale Wars focused on Operation Divine Wind, an effort by Sea Shepherd to stop Japanese whalers from plying their trade by disrupting the operations of whaling ships off the coast of Antarctica. Divine Wind is the common English translation of kamikaze, a Japanese term often associated with the World War II suicide pilots of the Imperial Army. It is a bit of an ominous name, considering that allegations of boat ramming are what landed Mr. Watson in the situation he is currently in, and Sea Shepherd has a history of resorting to ramming in order to carry on its mission.

This is not the first time that the future of Whale Wars hangs in the air. On previous seasons, the constant efforts of Sea Shepherd against the Japanese ships are thought to have had an impact on whaling operations when Japan formally announced that whaling would be suspended in early 2011. At that time, Season 4 of Whale Wars had been confirmed to begin filming, which may explain the production of Whale Wars: Viking Shores, a series of episodes concentrated on Sea Shepherd’s attempt to stop traditional whaling in the Faroe Islands. Viking Shores only enjoyed a fraction of the success of regular seasons of Whale Wars, and the fact that Sea Shepherd crew members went on shore to disrupt and confront Faroe Islanders who practice whaling prompted a NewYork Times television critic to label the spinoff season “Whale Wars: Onshore Bickering.”

Japanese whalers have declined requests from Animal Planet and the producers of Whale Wars to go aboard whaling ships and show their side of the story. As a result of this, the filming takes place almost entirely from the vessels of the Sea Shepherd fleet, which has the effect of dehumanizing the Japanese while making Sea Shepherd seem heroic in comparison, even though by now both groups are used to running into each other and they equally play the “cat and mouse” game. This game was evident in the final two episodes, “Counterstrike” and “Target Acquired.”

On “Counterstrike”, the direct actions of Sea Shepherd are met with direct reactions from the Japanese crews in the form of grappling hooks and long wooden poles. A Sea Shepherd crew member was physically injured in the confrontation. On “Target Acquired”, the Sea Shepherd vessel Bob Barker caught up with the whaling vessel Nisshin Maru, but the conservationists got a taste of their own medicine when Japanese ships threw items overboard in an attempt to foul the propellers of the Bob Barker. This tactic is frequently used by Sea Shepherd against the Japanese.

It is not surprising to see Japanese whalers become tactical against Mr. Watson and the Sea Shepherd fleet. When the crew of the Varadero met the Sea Shepherd vessel Ocean Warrior (later known as the RV Farley Mowat) ten years ago, Whale Wars was not yet on the air. The crew of the Varadero was made up of fishermen from Costa Rica who, more than likely, had never heard of Mr. Watson or Sea Shepherd. When Mr. Watson allegedly gave the order to steer the Ocean Warrior right at the Varadero, the Tico fishermen did not stand a chance.

The work of Sea Shepherd is truly international, and the producers of Whale Wars have other opportunities to film the marine conservationists at work, but it would not be the same without Mr. Watson and his relentless pursuit of the Japanese whaling industry. In late June, the online media section of Sea Shepherd published a press release entitled “The Rice and Banana Conspiracy: The Japan / Costa Rica Connection”, a chronology of events that dates back to October of 2011, when it was revealed that the Japanese whaling fleet had received a multimillion dollar infusion to resume operations, followed by a meeting between President Laura Chinchilla and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda months later.

The timeline published by Sea Shepherd continues by indicating that Japanese whaling ships were forced to retreat on March 8^th, 2012 -a couple of weeks earlier than planned and with a drastically diminished catch, a fact that was highlighted during the season finale of Whale Wars. Mr. Watson was arrested in Frankfurt less than a week later. On June 26^th, Costa Rica received a $9 million dollar gift from Japan intended to be used for conservation of our national parks. Sea Shepherd then connected the dots and stated that:

“[…] there certainly is a great deal of circumstantial evidence to suggest that Japanese pressure had a hand in Costa Rica’s decision to have Captain Watson arrested and detained in Germany awaiting extradition.”

The donation mentioned on the Sea Shepherd press release was reported on by The Costa Rica Star, and it may be a bit hyperbolic to think that the leaders of Costa Rica and Japan would conspire to have Mr. Watson arrested. Sea Shepherd does present some supporting evidence to support the off-the-wall claim, which has Mr. Watson’s work written all over it and it is an example of what he brings to Whale Wars. In the end, it does not seem as if the prospect of extradition or the possible cancellation of Whale Wars will break Mr. Watson’s spirit or his resolve.