fought until the last drop of oil is cleaned up. that's it. we did it. a full day here on the beach with these guys. here you go, robert. i appreciate it, man. these guys do it every day. i never thought it would be this difficult. these are just some of the heroes doing their part to save the gulf of mexico. >> larry: tonight -- they're willing to die to save whales. >> i can't get to the quick release. >> hold on, hold on, hold on! slow down! >> larry: life and death drama on the high seas. >> they're going down. >> larry: but are they going too far?

plus, bob barker on the ship named in his honor. >> he said if i have $5 million, i could do it. and i said, all right, you have $5 million. let's do it. >> larry: why he defends radical tactics. the cast of "whale wars" next on "larry king live." >> larry: good evening. we are talking tonight with people who say they're ready to sacrifice their own lives to save whales. the controversial anti-whaling activities of the sea shepherd conservation society are chronicled on the documentary style reality show "whale wars" now in its third season on animal planet. we welcome captain paul watson, founder of sea shepherd, a co-founder director of the greenpeace foundation. captain of the "bob barker" and

fiona, a member of the sea shepherd crew of the "bob barker." the most amped up in your face yet season of "whale wars" occurs now. it premiered last month and is going to be a heck of a year for animal planet and for them and for us to have them with us. how did you get into this? why do you whale save? >> i've been doing this pretty much all my life. it goes back to 1977 when i was on a greenpeace mission and the soviets had just harpooned a whale and it turned to defend and it was harpooned in turn and as it was struggling and dying in agony, i caught its eye and dove and saw bubbles. he came up over a small, inflatable boat. as that eye came up out of the water and i looked into it, i saw something there that changed my life forever. >> larry: which was? >> understanding. he understood what we were trying to do. i could see the effort he made to pull himself back and i saw

his eye disappear. he died. he could have killed us and chose not to do so. >> larry: why do they harpoon whales, chuck? for what? >> they say they're trying to maintain traditional cultures, their way of life and so on. >> larry: who is they? >> well, whoever is killing whales whether it's the japanese, the icelandic people or norway. they say they're trying to maintain their traditional ways of life but in fact it's illegal and it's a commercial operation. >> larry: they're the three countries involved? >> primarily right now, yes. >> larry: are there no laws against it, fiona? >> since 1986 it was actually illegal to kill -- commercially kill whales around the world. some countries do justify that they can through a loophole in the regulation for scientific purposes, but these days we know we can take all scientific information by just taking a small slab from the whale and from the blubber in the skin you can work out how much mercury is

in the system, how much toxins and the information you need. >> larry: what do you do to save them? what are examples of what you do? a ship is coming along, he's going to harpoon a whale, what do you do? >> we found the best way is to hit them where it hurts most economically. they killed 507 so we saved more than they killed. by just being there, by being on their stern, chasing them, harassing them, making it impossible for them to -->> larry: you don't physically harm them? >> we've never injured anyone. we do get in their way, obstruct them and harass them with our stink bombs which make work very difficult for them when we hit them. >> larry: take a look at highlights of this season's "whale wars." >> wondering if maybe they were shining their spotlights at us so they can arrange things on deck without us noticing or seeing what they're doing. it was just us alone against this fleet of ships. seeing how it's dark out and not knowing where they were, what they were doing or what they

planned on doing, it's really scary. it's a really scary thought. >> it was quite init tim dating, they were running circles around us. >> we came down to engage the fleet. to piss them off. there is a certain fear. if you're t-boned, that's where ships sink in seconds. >> where is the other one? they're coming up on us. >> he's angling at us. >> holy [ bleep ]. >> he's coming right at us. >> oh, my gosh! >> just get in closer. >> got in the wake. >> don't worry about that. >> what's that thing? >> what's that thing he's got? >> i don't know. >> he has a gun. did you see him? >> it's gone.

>> larry: how did you get into this, chuck? >> i worked with a number of different organizations before i heard about sea shepherd and one of the people that knew me the best walked up to me one day with a sea shepherd brochure and said i think you need to know about these guys. the more i research, because i like to know what i'm getting involved in, they're passionate, aggressive, with absolutely nonviolent and take all kinds of sometimes, you know, called radical actions for means of enforcing conservation laws and it's an intoxicating mix. how can you not want to be involved in that? i signed up and have been doing it for 20 years. >> larry: fioma, how many sea shepherders are there? >> we have 77 individuals from 17 different nations but, look, there are people who go on the boats and people who have worked for us onshore.

it's a volunteer organization. i've been working for years as a volunteer. >> larry: you make no living from this? >> no, i don't. i'm living in a hostel at the moment in los angeles. this organization has a completely different structure than the other big environmental organizations. when people give their money, it does go towards the campaigns and the boats not huge office rents and salaries. >> larry: captain, how did the tv show start, paul? >> we thought when you look at the largest show on discovery which is "the dead last catch" i figure these are people going out in the water in rough weather to catch crabs, going down in even rougher weather in a more remote area to save whales had to be even more compelling. >> larry: good idea. back with more right after this. the lexus golden opportunity sales event. see your lexus dealer. ouch! ow! oops! it's neo to go!® ready. aim. protect. neosporin® gives you infection-protection, and pain relief. neo to go!® plus pain relief.

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meineke. we have the coolest customers. there are four ships designed to hunt and kill animals maneuvering aggressively around us. >> we are heading for the ashimoro. but we have got to hurry up because the harpoon ships are on our tail. we are a very fragile ship. drop it now. tell him to drop it now! >> whoo-hoo! >> larry: joining us from morocco is lawrence degrute, after two campaigns aboard the flag ship steve irwin

he joined the crew of the ship the arimoro described by some as a bat mobile on water. >> our harpoon interceptor vessel. it goes right through the water. it has a kevlar shell. >> the adi gil is to be the nimble rocket ship the "steve irwin" is not. the mission is to cut the harpooners' whale lines. >> i checked everything i have into building an amazing boat. >> whoa. whoa.

>> did they hit it? i can't see. i thought they hit him. >> get some binoculars. get some binoculars. >> do you see people? >> no, i don't see any people. oh, my god. >> larry: lauren, thanks for joining us. you were on the adi gil when it went down. what happened? >> well, we were drifting at the point when we got rammed we tried to slow it down so the "bob barker" could slow it up. we were running very low on fuel. one of the last ships passing by was the ashimoro number two and it made a sharp turn to the right. it rammed us. >> larry: did that change your feelings about sea shepherd? did it increase them? what did you think?

>> oh, no, it made me even more determined to go back every year and stop the illegal whaling operations and you know there are always risks when you choose to join the sea shepherd campaign and you're dealing with criminals, illegal poaching. these are ruthless people. they don't back down even if they need to ram the ship. it showed they're willing to do it. >> larry: captain watson, what was the result on the sea shepherds' efforts? >> it was a loss of a $2 million vessel and what's surprising to me is the captain has not been questioned by any authority after ramming and destroying our ship. he got away with it completely. >> larry: do you know who he is? >> we know who he is and he's on videotape and australia did an inquiry. they said japan refused to cooperate with the investigation so that was the end of it. i don't know of any case in maritime history where another person has destroyed a ship and walked away from it without any repercussions. >> larry: we know what the "bob

barker" is. what is the abigil? >> two-thirds of the vessel, we named it after him for that reason. >> larry: do you think, captain swift, about taking risks? >> absolutely. anytime we get involved with these actions we know what's possible down there. our resolve and passion, our determination to shut down the illegal activities overrides all of that. >> larry: fiona, do you have a specific duty on the ship? >> i was rescue swimmer. put up my home. not thinking it was quite a significant accident. i was also a deck hand, with painting and sanding and launching small boats and learned a lot very different from my normal commercial job, that's for sure. >> larry: laurens, how did you get involved in all of this? >> i was a former crime investigator for the dutch police. after doing that for three years and before that working five years on the streets, i was getting my specialty became environmental crimes and i got

so involved in the astrostist happening to the animals around the world. one of the animals are the whales and i thought if we can't protect these species what can we protect? i decided to give them my job and, yeah, join an organization that is actually doing something out there to protect the whales. >> larry: well, you do this voluntarily, right? >> yes. it's an international volunteer organization. >> larry: what do you do for a living? >> i'm paid because i've been with the organization for 30 years. i captain the ship as a volunteer. >> larry: what do you do, chuck? >> i'm a paid employee. i'm the deputy chief executive officer of the organization as well as captain of the "bob barker." >> larry: fiona, you're not paid? >> i'm not paid and that's the survival of environmental organizations because we really want the money to go towards international conservation law and enforcing it. >> larry: laurens, are you paid? >> yes, i am. i'm currently working as a european coordinator trying to set up more chapters of the sea shepherd in europe.

>> larry: "whale wars" airs friday on animal planet. how aggressive are the anti-whaling forces willing to get? we'll ask them next. about money, every bank loan would be a guarantee of success. at ge capital, loaning money is the start of the relationship, not the end. i work with polaris every day. at ge capital, we succeed only when they do. whoo! awesome! yes! we've got to get you out of the office more often. ♪ my turn to drive. ♪ ♪ my turn to drive. ♪ d ssiliefoow fit ckop t dr, rsretsvethg. ♪ rsmos fwa ft. fit ckop t dr,

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we're ready on deck. waiting on your word. >> stand by for the moment. >> as the captain i need to be able to provide leadership and make the tough decisions. you know that's what i do. >> matt. launch. >> you piece of --

♪ >> larry: we're back. pete be it thune was the captain of the "ady gil" on trial in japan, accused of trespassing, vandalism, possession of a knife, obstruction business and assault. what did he do, captain watson? >> pete bethune boarded the shonan maru ii" the ship to confront the captain who had destroyed his ship. he was taken prisoner back to japan and given all these charges. >> larry: you have expelled him? >> yes, we did. because pete is a character. he certainly is a bit of a cowboy. there is no arguing with his passion. he did break rules and regulations. it is a good thing that we did, it helps his case in japan. >> larry: will he get a lot of years? >> they are concerned he will go back to antarctica, one of the reasons they don't want to let

him to go, so i'm making it clear to the japanese he won't be back in antarctica. we want him to be free. pete is really a hero for what he did. we support him 100%. >> larry: the international whaling commission, iwc has been meeting in morocco, what has come of that? >> well, it's the biggest waste of tax money i have ever seen. so far earlier this week, a brit, newspaper revealed there is all kind of corruption. japan is buying votes, buying and offering prostitutes to delegates of several countries. i thought that was going to be the main topic on this iwc that is here in agadir, morocco, it is not. yesterday it was a small victory for the whales when there were the plans to uplift the ban on whaling fortunately that is in place. still, commercial whaling is not allowed. yeah, japan, iceland, norway will continue illegal whaling.

>> larry: not allowed but done. japan slammed the sea shepherd during the iwc gathering saying the attacks are becoming more aggressive. are they? >> what they mean they're becoming more effective. we saved 528 whalts this last season which is more than they killed. we have lost them tens of millions of dollars in losses. we understand that the best way to stop them is hit them where it hurts. economically. our objective is to sink the fleet economically. we haven't injured any of them. we're really at a disadvantage. they're trying to kill us out there. we're trying to do what we are doing making sure we don't injure any of them. >> larry: is their defense, chuck, their defense, these are whales. we are making a living. how are we different than fishermen? >> well -- >> larry: fishermen kill fish. >> fishermen kill fish. the fact is fishing is not illegal. sea shepherd enforces international conservation laws. the actions japan is taking are illegal. that's why we're going after that. >> larry: is it because we emotionally feel different about the whale than the fish? >> some people have an

attachment to whales, seals, dolphins, that's why sea shepherd focuses primarily on these. if we can't save these animals that we have, some intrinsic connection with we have no chance of saving the rest of them. >> larry: what do you think of the people who do go and harpoon them? >> they're breaking international conversation law. look, of course there are people who are wanting to also feed their own families, and empathy there, everyone needs to make a living. but these people are illegally poaching wild animals. in the last five years, humans have actually realized how important biodiversity is. if we don't have all the wild animals in the word, humans will die as well. so the whales, it is, you know we are helping the whales. the whale is symbolic. we can't save the most popular wild animal in the world, what's the hope of actually saving the small animals like the frog. >> larry: we'll be back in a minute. are there any rules of the road when it comes to engagement between the combatants. that's next. at quicken loans, we're making it easier for you to get a home loan.

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cable is away. >> hang on. don't go too quick, bro'. [ bleep ] >> this is not good. >> i can't get to the quick release. it's jammed. >> hold on! hold on! slow down! >> larry: before we show you some apparatus here on the desk, i want to ask laurens de groot, in morocco, are there rules of the road here? >> both sides don't. we are not out to hurt anyone. that is an important rule that we always stick to. >> larry: they're not out to hurt you, are they, they just don't want you there, right? >> correct. we don't even want to be there as well. but, yeah, it's up to japan.

they should just get out of there and we won't be there either. >> larry: thanks for that, laurens. what have you got, fiona? >> one of the pieces of the ady gil, one of the last remaining pieces. obviously this boat was sunk, sunk after it was rammed into by one of the harpoon boats. nearly killed six men. so anyway, we lost the boat. but, yeah, we didn't have any injuries. >> larry: do you have the suit you wear? >> i do. one of the mustang suits. normally in the waters down there it's so frigid that after two or three minutes you'd be hype thermic and have no chance of survival. with these you get 20, 30 minut minutes. plenty of time for a recovery. >> larry: what is that? in front? >> a net. sea shepherd has been active not only about whales, seals, dolphins and fishing. we just had a campaign in the mediterranean released 800 tuna.

this just shows. you can see how tangled this. i mean, seals, whales, dolphins, sharks, swordfish, all kind of what they call bi catch, or extra products. >> larry: bonus. >> horrendous. like clear cutting the ocean. >> larry: do they have feelings for the fish that they're doing this to do you think? >> i don't think so. it's seen as a resource. something to consume, sell for profit. >> larry: what's the book, captain? >> we maintain a logbook of everything. we submitted this to the australian/new zealand investigators they looked at our log. japan wouldn't give them theirs. they have the one side. >> larry: you describe what is happening? >> every day, put down the position. the hours. keep track of every incident that happens. >> larry: like a log. >> a legal document. so if there is any court case or everything, this is our proof. it all has to be in pen. you can't do it in pencil. that can be erased. >> larry: do you think you will meet your goal and stop this? >> absolutely.

i think, more and more people are getting aware that whaling is truly barbaric, shouldn't have a place here in the 21st century. so, pretty confident we will shut down whaling once and for all. >> larry: you think so, fiona? >> absolutely. >> larry: you do? it's been going on how long? >> been going on for hundreds of years. but it is not tradition for commercial whaling, you know, i mean in the olden days that's fine. there were a few whales taken for small villages in japan. going down after world war ii, to antarctica, taking 1,000 whales, southern ocean sanctuary is not a cultural thing at all. and, i think the whole world is realizing that, you know, we want an end to whaling. i think it will definitely end. the sea shepherd will go back time and time again until we make sure that we put them out economically. >> larry: what waters are you in mostly, captain? >> all the arctic oceans, the southern oceans, just the entire

antarctic peninsula. >> larry: what type of whale is it they're getting? >> they had a self-provided quota of 995 minke whales. >> larry: what is that? >> smaller whale, distributed throughout world. when the ice melts there is an algae bloom, and the crill feed on the algae. the whales go down to feed on the crill. in short that's the biological perspective. during our winter it is summer in antarctica, the ice melts and whales migrate down there. >> larry: you saw the eye, captain watson, are whales smart? >> scientists are now discovering that whales are self-aware, sentient beings. i think they're highly intelligent. when people say that is ridiculous, that only humans are intelligent, i equate intelligence to live in harmony with our environment, by that criteria, we are not that intelligent at all. when you look at whales you are looking at a real mind in the ocean. i believe that one day through the use of computers we'll be able to communicate with the species.

i think that is an exciting possibility. >> larry: the way they die is how? >> they're harpooned. it is a very agonizing death. none of this would be tolerated at any slaughterhouse in the world. last year we filmed one whale that was struck and it took 25 minutes to die after being hit with an explosive harpoon, being shot at continuously with high powered rifles. a whale can take from ten minutes up to two hours to die. there is nothing really quite as cruel like this in any other part of the animal world. >> larry: laurens, have you witnessed these killings? >> yeah, i was there on the last campaign. and, yeah, indeed we saw the whale being harpooned. it is incredibly horrific. even today i heard here in greenland, also killing whales, shot a whale, it took over 120 minutes to die. yeah, it's just insane. >> larry: that is insane. laurens, thank you for the work you do. thanks for being with us. laurens de groot from morocco. where does bob barker fit in all of this? he'll join our panel next.

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>r to takp possiblpossiblep possiblpod possiblpossiblep possiblp it out. r >> i>> i'm it out. >>rô e you all right? going to start it. give it a little push. >> at which point i made the decision i am going to start the engine and just drive it on to the rocks. >> oh, my god. oh. whoa, whoa, whoa! whoa! >> larry: captain watson, captain swift, and bob barker joins us, of course, the iconic tv personality, long time animal

rights activist. he donated $5 million to sea shepherd for the retrofitting of the vessel now christened in his honor. take a look. >> announcer: 4,000 miles away, a covert mission is under way, a mission kept secret from the japanese whaling fleet. the sea shepherds have quietly been rebuilding the vessel for three months now they want to sneak the ship to antarctica to surprise the whaling fleet. >> all aboard! >> we're moving. we're moving. we're moving. >> the sea shepherd! >> hell, yes. >> we are finally on our way to antarctica, yeah, we are all stoked, yes.

>> quite frankly i don't care what people think about what we do. they can criticize us all they want. but their opinions mean nothing to me. >> larry: bob, how did you connect with the whale group? i see you with animals, i don't see you with whales? >> well, i have a dear friend named nancy burnett, who is a leading animal rights activist in the country. she is a long time admirer of sea shepherd. she has mentioned them several times. but this year she heard that they needed a new ship and she called me, she said, you ought to talk with paul watson. and help them out. so paul and i met. and i was very impressed with him as i am sure you are.

and i listened to what he had to say about what he needed, and he explained as he has to you today, he explained to me that he was trying to sink the japanese whaling fleet economically. and he said, if i had $5 million, i could do it. and i said, all right you, have $5 million. let's do it. and he has had a great year. they made no money. >> larry: the price is right. have you seen, have you watched the show? >> no, never had seen it. >> larry: do you see it now? >> i see it now. >> larry: what do you think, captain watson, ask the guy for $5 million, he gives it to you. >> it is exceedingly generous. bob has a long history of helping animals. bob did a psa for us 20 years ago. >> yes, i did. that's right. >> larry: you need people in the world, it is okay to go out. you need the bob barkers don't you? >> absolutely.

any battle needs different positions filled. and without the support of people like bob barker or just the average populace we could never do what we are doing. >> larry: bob, i guess, all your life it has really bothered you that people would harm an animal of any kind, right? >> it has. i have loved animals my entire life. >> larry: do you remember when it started that you got so upset to become active? were you a kid? >> well, i was -- as a kid i picked up strays. i brought home strays. i lived in a little town in south dakota. and my mother and i lived in a hotel, it was the only two-story building in town. and out at rosebud indian reservation. there was a stairway up to the roof. when she wanted to find me when i was a little boy she would go up on the roof and look for the dogs because i had a pack of dogs with me always. and i -- i have always. >> larry: all of your lifetime? >> all my life. but i was the honorary chairman

of be kind to animals week here in los angeles one year. years ago. maybe 35, 40 years ago. and as such, i did radio interviews and television interviews. and i talked with people, and i was invited by various organizations to participate in their activities. and i did. and as i did, i began to be aware of the horrendous exploitation and mistreatment of animals in our country, in the world as a matter of fact. as i did, i just felt compelled to try to do what i could to rectify the situation. >> larry: what -- what, captain swift, is an engagement like? >> thrilling. >> larry: do you yell at each other? can you verbally communicate with these people who do these things? >> i have specifically told my crew not to yell, engage, or make rude hand gestures or anything. we are there to shut them down

financially. the best thing we can do to accomplish the goal is blockade. >> larry: what do they do? >> in this case, they rand over the ship, attempted murder on six crew members. they rammed into the vessel "bob barker," the ship i was capta captaining, ripped a six-foot gash in the side. that was about 4 inches deep. and they proved quite aggressive. these are people that for years have proven they have no disregard for the life -- >> larry: no regard. >> for the whales or laws protecting the whales. they proved they have the same disregard for human life. >> larry: does it shock you, fiona, to see this? it would shock me. >> absolutely. i think when you grew up i did think it was a perfect world. just realizing humans, 6 billion of us, about to become 12 billion, there is a lot of bad things going on. a lot of mistreatment in animals. unfortunately we are heading towards a pretty scary situation with the population exploding

and we need to conserve every wild animal we have. and that's why it is so important, the sea shepherd is out there enforcing international conversation law. the u.n. should be doing it. navy should be doing. federal governments should be doing it. they're not doing it. and so we are doing it. we're doing an extremely effective job for such a small organization. >> larry: what does bob think about sea shepherd's tactics especially with his name on the side of their ship? find out after the break. ♪ [ male announcer ] like summer, it's here, but not forever.

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i hate to interrupt your breakfast. that's did he haefinitely a hit. >> that was a great moral victory. they hang up the nets and we're just looping around to get it on the deck. we messed that up really bad. you could smell the tear gas. >> sweet smell of nepalm in the morning. >> larry: we are back. bob, critics slam the aggressiveness of sea shepherd's tactics warning one day somebody is going to be injured or killed. your name is on the ship, do their tactics bother you? >> no, their tactics don't bother me a bit. absolutely not. now this year, i think that -- that these three folks will agree, the japanese whalers were much more aggressive than they have ever been. were they not? >> absolutely, yeah. >> and the aggression and the

problems were the japanese not the sea shepherd. >> larry: what do you think of the people who whale? they're earning a living? >> there are so many ways to earn a living. that is no excuse. i have nothing, i can't use the language that i would use to describe whalers. there was a time when people were going out and getting whales and using them in a useful way. today, the japanese say they're doing research, they're not doing research at all. they're filling the shelves of grocery stores in japan with whale meat. >> larry: what is a useful way? >> well, they were using it for lights. they were using it as fuel. >> larry: to live. >> eating the blubber and so on. they aren't doing that today. >> larry: captain watson, what

is operation waltzing matilda? >> to honor the australian people without their support we wouldn't have a base of operations. that's where we launch our campaigns from. one of the things we are really concerned about this next year is that because of no action taken against the captain of the "shonan maru" was given a green light to the japanese to be even more aggressive next year. so we are really worried that they're going to intensify their violence they've sunk one of our ships and got away with it. they will possibly try to do it again. >> larry: if this was a show in japan and they were on, what would they say about you? >> they would question our tactics, question our integrity, say that we were impinging on their rights. they would ignore the fact they're in flagrant violation of conversation laws. >> larry: they would deny it if the host brought up the law what would they say? >> they would say it is their national right to do what they want to do. >> also they have research right on the side of their ships. >> on them.

>> larry: oh, to get away with it. >> yeah. >> larry: do you have any idea how many whales you save? >> we know we saved 528 whales in our last campaign in antarctica, i mean, we have saved thousands and thousands of whales, the sea shepherd, has done a brilliant job of doing that. also raising awareness as well. i came over to find the sea shepherd because i wanted to find an organization that was tackling an australian issue because it is so close to our land. because it's so close to our land. and sea shepherd was the one that brought it to the world's attention. there were a lot of people not knowing about it. thanks to whale wars as well it's becoming a worldwide issue, not just about whales but about diversity. >> it worked brilliantly. it showed up and the harpoon vessels saw it. i asked chuck to put up the

norwegian flag and he did. it sailed right back and surprised them. they were not aware of the existence of the bob barker until it showed up. >> you ought to be very proud, bob. whale wars airs friday on animal planet. by the way, jerrie weintraub, producer of the karate kid is our guest tomorrow night. baghdad ended up being the head of the ride. i suffered a severe blast. it came to a complete halt. >> i've been building custom homes for years. >> one of the most important things is a family. i want you to read the sign for me. >> future home of united states.

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>> i'm wondering if they're shining their spotlights at us so they can arrange things on deck so they can do it without

us noticing. >> it's us against this fleet of ships. you know. it's dark out and not knowing who they were, what they were doing, or what they planned on doing. it's really scary. it's a really scary thought. >> larry: we're back with our remaining moments. captain watson, what do you make of this whole situation in the gulf? >> well rngs we're preparing a vessel to go over to the gulf but bp says we can't go in there to rescue animals. our concern is that they're taking bodies of mammals and burning them at night so people can't see what's being done. >> larry: you know that? >> yes, that's been documented there. they don't want people to see the extent of the damage and number of lives that's being killed amongst the wildlife. so it's a very, very disturbing thing. i want to know why is british petroleum calling the shotter here? why isn't the federal government and u.s. coast guard doing it? that's what's disturbing us.

>> larry: what do you make of that whole thing? >> that's a very good question. >> larry: what do you make of it? >> obviously it's a disaster. >> larry: you see those animals. >> it's just heart-wrenching. and think of the implications. the oil work its way into the estuaries, mangroves and wetlands. this is where these animals breed, fish, shrimp, all of these things breed in these shallow areas. and this is going to be a decades-long issue. >> fiona? >> the bluefin tuna spawns in two places, the gulf of mexico and mediterranean. they're getting a double whammy at the moment. it's very scary. the scary thing is we can't do anything about it. we just have to put all of our hope into bp so that they can stop it. it's going still now. that's the scary thing. >> larry: the animal lover you are, what must it do to you? >> i can't stand to look at the pictures. it's all over television now and, of course, newspapers. i can't bear to look at those pictures. it's terrible. peta wants to have the government file animal cruelty

law -- suits against the british petroleum. it's a good idea. >> that's a great idea, yeah. >> larry: the whale show, how long are you committed to this? this could go on for a long time, this animal planet, unless you succeed and there's no more harpooning. >> we're the only television show that really wants to put itself off the air. we can do that by succeeding. every year we're hoping we can shut this down and that will be the last "whale wars" show. and so that's our ultimate goal, to put ourselves off the air. >> larry: what satisfaction do you get in what you do? >> extremely satisfying. we've seen eight or nine whales and to watch them swim? both times we came up on the factory ship and started our blockade and saw a pod of whales. it recharges your batteries. there's a lot of work, lot of stress in what we do and it's so nice to see the wilderness down there. >> larry: what satisfaction do you get, bob? you're not out on the ship. >> oh, i have such a great

feeling of pride to be associated with people like this in any way. i truly do. to think what they're doing, they're risking their lives in an effort to save one of nature's most beautiful creations. and i am a part of it. i'm grateful for the opportunity. >> larry: fiona, what satisfaction do you get? >> so much satisfaction. i'm going to devote the rest of my life to representing animals and trying to make it a different world for them. i really do hope we have a turnaround and we do conserve what little we have left. and we really do only have a little left, of the wildlife left. >> larry: captain watson, you who started all of this, you must get the greatest satisfaction.