[wilsontheterrible]

In responce to the origional question, no, I myself dont know of any waleing heroes although I would probably assume there are. It was and continues to be a very dangerous profession and the people who went out took a lot of risks, I would suggest some inspired Google digging.

In responce to the moral and ecological aspect of whaling, if they aren't hunting protected species and have the permits, its legal. For some its tradition, for some its to make money, and others might do it for the sport. I honestly have no idea why people do it (I dont understand why people do a lot of the things they do) but its not hurting anyone (human's of course) and its not violating any international law. I personally don't see a problem with it but then I've never been overly sensative about animals.