Has anyone else been watching "Whale Wars"?

For those who havent, it's a documentary (mini-, I assume) series airing on Animal Planet about Sea Shepherds, an organization that advocates "direct intervention" in preventing the Japanese from engaging in what they consider illegal whaling activities in Antarctic waters. I started watching the show after reading the book that it was based on (ref: the left-hand column for the Amazon link), about their 2005 campaign.

I am...not at all sure...how I feel about this man (Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherds) and his organization.  On the one hand, it's hard to fault the convictions of a group who put themselves between a whaler and its intended prey in nothing more than a Zodiac inflatable craft.  It's also hard not to be offended by whaling as an institution, as the manner in which these incredible animals are killed would not be permitted in any slaughterhouse (beef, poultry, whatever) in any civilized nation.

My objections are two-fold:

• The actual legality of whaling activities in Antarctic waters is...unclear...at best, and the legality of Sea Shepherd's actions in response are similarly unclear. I suppose I've grown a bit law and order in my old [sic] age, as I just don't know how I feel about the idea of targetting and ramming "opposing" ships in the middle of the Southern Ocean, where a man overboard is likely a man lost.
• The APL documentary is not doing these guys any favours - rather than ardent activists, they're simply coming across as raving incompetents who can't even deploy a Zodiac from the deck of a ship without capsizing the whole thing. I know precisely nothing of nautical, military, and/or environmental campaigns, and even I am seeing about a hundred things that this crew could and should be doing better. Things as simple as having a checklist on each Zodiac: "Is every member of your party wearing a Mustang suit? Do you have your GPS? Do you have your sat phone? If you cannot check "Yes" to all 3 of these items, go back to the ship and address said before you launch. Kisses, Laura."

Anyway, if you're interested, certainly don't take my perspective as gospel here: go read Whale Warriors and decide how you feel about a fairly intractable issue.