Whalers accused of noise warfare

Anti-whaling activists in the Southern Ocean have accused Japan of using military-grade noise weapons that can cause deafness and vomiting and of hurtling metal balls in a dramatic clash which injured two protesters.

Japan is vowing to use all legal means to stop the anti-whaling "pirates" from boarding its ships or threatening the safety of crew, but refuses to say whether its whaling fleet carries noise weapons.

"We can neither confirm nor deny the strategies employed by the Japanese research vessels to protect themselves from the criminal actions committed by the Dutch vessel," said Glenn Inwood, spokesman for Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research.

Two crew on board the Steve Irwin were injured after the activists caught up with the whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean yesterday.

Skipper Paul Watson said a cameraman on an inflatable boat was cut and bruised above the eye when a high-pressure water blaster from the Nisshin Maru knocked him off his feet as he filmed. Another crew member was struck in the face by a metal ball.

Concussion grenades were thrown by the Japanese, and the whaling fleet had also used a weapon system that sent out mid- to high-frequency soundwaves to disorientate and incapacitate personnel, he said. "They are pointing this low, long-range acoustic weapon at us, which can cause deafness permanent or temporary vomiting, nausea and disorientation."

The Japanese fleet plans to kill 1000 whales this summer, using a loophole in a 1986 global whaling moratorium that allows "lethal research" on the marine mammals.