4:41pm UK, Tuesday February 03, 2009

Japanese whalers have fired water cannon at conservationists trying to disrupt their annual hunt in the Antarctic Ocean.

Whale protest

Protesters take a soaking as pressure water jets are turned on them

The Sea Shepherd group say the whalers also attacked them with hunks of metal.

Conservationists routinely harass the Japanese whaling fleet which plans to harvest nearly a thousand minke and fin whales this season.

Japan denied the accusations using weapons against the activists on inflatable boats near Antarctica.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said two crew members were injured when Japanese whalers used water cannon, concussion grenades, acoustic weapons and threw brass and lead balls at Sea Shepherd boats.

Whalers Use High Pressure Hoses Against Activists

Shigeki Takaya, an assistant director of the Far Seas Fisheries Division at Japan's fisheries ministry, said that the Japanese fleet had used hoses on two Sea Shepherd boats after sending warnings, accusing Sea Shepherd crew members of throwing bottles containing dyes and strong-smelling liquid at its boats.

No one was injured, he said.

Despite a commercial whaling ban under a 1986 treaty, Japan continues what it calls a scientific whaling programme, drawing criticism from anti-whaling countries such as Australia, Britain and New Zealand, as well as environmental groups.

Its annual hunt is aimed at catching about 900 whales.

Sea Shepherd, blamed for collisions with the Japanese fleet in recent years, has used confrontational tactics widely criticised by pro-whaling groups and fellow environmentalists.

But it has also attracted some high-profile supporters.