What is "Whale Wars"?

A introduction video to my blog

So I'm watching the Whale Wars on Discovery and maybe like you, would like to  know a little bit more about it, obviously vast sums of money are laid down for this purpose and why are the Japanese whaling vessel's going to such length's to catch Whales, mainly Minkie Whales? (Minkie Whale is also known as Balaenoptera Acutorostrata) but also many other species of whales, many endangered species.

So having done some reading about whales and the history of catching whales, it seems that this has been going on for a long time, before the 16th Century which is a pretty long time. Back then whales were important for such things as lamp oil, soap, candles and perfume and other cosmetics but remember that boats and technology was not what it is today and us humans certainly have the upper hand when deciding to kill these animals, surely we have refined other methods to manufacture soap and such like?
Is there a recipe book for whales? What kind of Whales are common to Irish Waters?

So the Sea Shepard, http://www.seashepard.org/ , is worth a look at to find out what and why they carry out such brave actions all in the name of whales. They chase around much bigger boats, primarily called the "Nisshin Maru" which hosts a harpoon to catch whales, winch the creatures on board and start on processing the meat.

So, the Japanese whaling commission argue that they are not in breach of anything illegal as they only catch in the region of 1000 whales and do so in the name of "Scientific Research" - surely each whale is anatomically similar?  I wonder what research specifically they conduct and what does it count towards?  Financial Gain? (for the Nisshin Maru?)
Should the global science community be alarmed at this research? or even at using science as a reason for killing these creatures?
What other dangers face Whales elsewhere around the Globe and who fishes them?