For the past five seasons of Animal Planet’s “Whale Wars,” viewers have watched Captain Paul Watson, as leader of The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, lead missions into the Antarctic’s Southern Ocean to stop Japanese fleets from “harvesting” endangered whales for alleged research.
But in the two-hour special “Whale Wars: A Commander Rises” premiering Friday at 9 p.m., Watson is forced to step down as the Sea Shepherd’s leader just as their January 2013 mission is about to start. His aggresive tactics spurred both a warrant for his arrest by Interpol and a US court’s issuing of a ruling banning the Sea Shepherds from coming within 500 yards of any Japanese whaling vessel — putting all the American crew members at risk
So with Watson hiding aboard the main boat, the Sea Shepherds appoint four new captains to lead the armada’s four vessels — the Steve Irwin, Bob Barker, Brigitte Bardot and Sam Simon (named after “The Simpsons” producer and Sea Shepherd donor).
“It was obviously worrying to not have Capt. Paul Watson in charge of the campaign,” Peter Hammarstedt, the Swedish-born, 29-year-old captain of the Bob Barker, told The Post on the phone from Hobart, Tasmania. “At the same time . . . It’s important to recognize that Sea Shepherd isn’t just Capt. Paul Watson, it’s every single person who is inspired by Paul’s vision.”
Hammarstedt and the rookie captains faced challenges in navigating their boats and had to make decisions on whether to stand their ground or retreat when threatened by the much larger Japanese boats — all while protecting and earning the trust of their crew who have vowed “to die for the whales.”
“We’re going up against an adversary that for every year has been more violent more aggressive toward us than the year previous because we’re affecting their bottom line,” Hammarstedt says.
Last February, that aggressive confrontation occurred when Hammarstedt successfully stopped the 8,000-ton Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru from refueling by wedging his 500-ton boat between it and its 5,000-ton fueling vessel — standing his ground by calmly radioing to the Japanese captain “You’ll have to sink me. I’m not going to move for you.”
Though this was the eighth campaign Hammarstedt has been a part of, “This time was the first time I felt like we could actually lose the ship,” he says. “Every campaign we say things like the only way to stop us is to sink us. This is the first time we really put them to that test.
“When people watch this show I think they’ll be quite shocked by the confrontation and seeing how aggressive the whalers are and the risks we’re willing to take to protect these whales.”
After several collisions, including one that knocked out the Bob Barker’s radar, the factory ship finally backed off, effectively ending the whaling season. The Japanese took in 103 whales out of a quota of 1,035 — the fewest in Sea Shepherd history.
Next week, Hammarstedt and the Sea Shepherds will ship out on their next mission, though Watson will not be on board. It will be their 10th Southern Ocean campaign taking on the Japanese whalers — “Hopefully giving them the worst season that they’ve ever had,” Hammarstedt says.