Animal Planet its launching Whale Wars, a reality show which focuses on a group of eco-warriors of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society fighting the killing of whales. The reality show has seven episodes (one each week) and will premiere today (Friday), 9 ET/PT.

The group embarks on a three-month mission to fight against Japanese whalers on their annual hunt in the Antarctic Ocean. The leader of the 34-member group is Greenpeace co-founder Paul Watson. Most of the eco-warriors are volunteers who do not have training or sea legs. They will make the best possible use of stink bombs, electronic tracking devices and other similar tools to stop the whalers from hunting up to 1,000 whales.

Tonight’s episode will be very interesting. It will feature the very dangerous experience of the eco-warriors on a capsized raft and the possible crash of the ship's helicopter.

Whether it features a group of fanatics trying to get in the way of a legitimate commercial and scientific venture or a band of believers who want to prove that sending Greenpeace some fat checks isn’t enough to fight for the cause (it depends on how each one sees it), the show will surely bring some life and humanity in the equation.

The group of eco-warriors goes into the world's roughest oceans to meet head-on a whole whaling fleet. Their deeds are filmed from the conservation ship named Sea Shepherd. For this voyage, the vessel was named Steve Irvin.

"This is Moby Dick meets Deadliest Catch," says Animal Planet's Marjorie Kaplan, who said he expects Whale Wars to be one of the network’s biggest hits.

For Japan, whaling is a cherished cultural tradition. In 1986 it abandoned commercial whaling due to an international moratorium.